TOP-RANKED Absolute and No. 2 Cobra Citrus hold off separate opponents to arrange a titular showdown in Class B of the Fil-Sino Asia Brewery Cup at Bacolod Tay Tung High School Po hang Gym.
Absolute escaped Summit, 85-82, and Cobra Citrus iced Nestea, 76-69.
Cobra Citrus led at the half, 46-33, led by Carl Ginete, Edgar Agana and Dirk Dongon while Miguel Mosquera, Derick Sibug and Joshua Chua scored for Nestea.
Cobra had a commanding 75-40 advantage going to the 4th quarter behind Agana and Mar Macainan but Nestea launched a last ditch rally in the payoff quarter led by Jappy Cuaycong, Joshua Co and Sibug, who combined for 24 points but came short.
Agana led Cobra Citrus with 19 points, Dongon had 9, and Justine Kilayko, Emil Agana, Jeff Maningo and Dante Ma scored 6 apiece. Sibug paced Nestea with 19; Mosquera, 15, and Michael Ang, 9.
Absolute also took the lead at the break, 54-36, as Sean Wee connected on four triples, Brian Coo shot 12 and Yan yan Dy scored 9. Summit made its move in the 3rdquarter and cut the deficit to 70-59 as Badong Eufre, Carlo Chu and Chibon Uy waxed hot.
The momentum shifted to Summit and with Absolute on top, 83-79, former UNO-R Ram Johnnyson Yu nailed his 3rd triple in the quarter to cut the lead to 1. Carlo Chu went to the line with less than a minute left but muffed his free throws and Sean Wee iced the game with two freebies.
Wee paced Absolute with 23, Brian Coo shot 18, Dy added 16, Luigi Coo with 8 and Nico Lopingco had 6.
Yu led Summit with 21; Alvan Rodriguez, 19; Chu, 13; Eufre, 10; and Jan Jan Lopue had 8.
Meanwhile, top-seed Tiger Black bounced back to down Tiger Crystal Light, 66-51, last Wednesday to advance to the finals in Class C.
Tiger Crystal Light led in the 1stquarter, 12-9, before Bryan Solinap and Deonyson Dy pushed Tiger Black in front at the break, 30-23.
Biboy Yap scored 10 to extend the lead to 49-36 even as Kenneth Ymalay and Mark Yu combined for 13
Tubby Villanueva scored 10 for Tiger Crystal and Roger Montalbo tallied all of his 8 markers in the quarter to secure the double digit advantage of Tiger Black, which was led by Solinap and Yap with 12 apiece as Nico Yap added 8.
Villanueva shot 12, Ymalay added 10, Jan Jan Young scored 6, and Clarence Quingco, Mark Yu and Sydney Chua made 5 apiece.
Finals for Class A and B is set for Monday.