PAG-Ibig Fund and Foodman won their respective matches against their opponents in the ongoing 10th Tan Kek Pin Memorial Basketball Cup at Nompac gym.
Pag-Ibig Fund outclashed Mitzu Motors, 88-81, while Foodman outscored Dolce Terra/Tib’s, 69-65 for the victories.
Mitzu Motors was actually ahead in the 6:29 minutes mark in the third quarter, but Bryan Alunan went berserk as he scored the last 14 points for Pag-Ibig Fund in the last 1:58 minutes in the same quarter to narrow the lead to 63-59.
Mitzu Motors had 65-62 lead in the 8:11 minutes left in the final canto but the trio of Johann Ledesma, Jeffrey Maningo and Alunan combined for a dizzying 15-3 run as Pag-Ibig Fund took a 77-68 lead with 3:59 remaining.
Mitzu did not score from 7:36 to 3:59 mark of the fourth quarter, only to get going with a 7-0 run behind the five points of Stephen Barneso in the 2:12 minutes remaining of the fourth to cut the lead to two.
Pag-Ibig retaliated with a 9-2 run triggered by Rine Miag-ao and Alunan to make it 86-77. A Randulf Benedicto’s four-point play with 12 seconds remaining added some highlights in the game to cut the lead at 86-81.
Alunan topscored with 23 points for Pag-Ibig, Jeffrey Maningo added 17, Johann Ledesma 9, Angelito Dumdum 8 and Donnel Asan 7.
For Mitzu Motors, Randulf Benedicto made 13, Jeff Nepocpan 10, Stephen Barneso 9, Marc Lo 8, Rey Gigje 8.
Foodman and Terra Dolce were playing intense match with the former leading, 57-52 with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, but the latter tied the game at 59-all in the 3:20 minutes remaining with a three-point play of Roger Montalbo and Julius Teruel putback. Daniel Tan scored 6 of the next eight points to put Foodman on top at 67-65 with 32 seconds left, while Terra Dolce stayed at the heels of the Breadmakers as Julius Teruel made four of the last Tibs six points.
Terra Dolce’s effort to tie the game was thwarted on a fine defensive play by Foodman, resulting in Mik Mik Montemayor sealing the game for Foodman as he scored on a breakaway layup with eight seconds to go.
Even with the defeat Terra Dolce/Tib’s (3-2) advance to automatic semis together with Johann Kendrick Tan.
Omar Galunan led Foodman’s scorer with 16, Daniel Tan and Montemayor with 14 points apiece and Ton Tonchua 14.
Teruel topscored with 15 for Terra Dolce, Ralph Ong and Daniel Tiu with 12 each and Roger Montalbo 12 points. Meanwhile, Knockout quarterfinal matches will be on February 23 with Foodman (2-3) going up against GTNet Po’s Digital and My Spaghetti House playing Cebu Sendai Motor Sales.
The semifinal round-robin for Class A will start Saturday with Province of Negros Occidental going up against Toyota Bacolod CSA-B in the first game while Globe Asiatique La Salle will play PD888 Handy Fix in the second game. (With reports from Scoop-Bacolod)