CHOI-BREWKETTLE held off Province of Negros Occidental-Cobra Original, 100-97 as Yarda 8 Restobar/G&S Devt Corp-Asahi escaped UNAC-Tanduay Ice, 89-85 in the quarterfinals of the Class A division in the ongoing Fil-Sino Asia Brewery Invitational Cup at the Bacolod Tay Tung High School gym.
At the start of the modified quarterfinals, Choi and Province of Negros Occidental stood-off on a 30-all even in the opening quarter as Rolly Ubamos and Ptr. Jay Arceña fired 11 and 8 points, respectively, for Choi while Peewee Demonteverde shot 12 markers for Cobra.
Choi raced to a double-digit advantage at the half 58-44 behind the efforts of Adrian Mananquil with 11 points, Pitaw de la Peña with 10 points and JR Bustamante with seven points.
Province of Negros Occidental drew closer in the 3rd quarter, 81-72 behind the combined 5 triples from Warlito Alintano and Ronald de la Cruz as Demonteverde added seven points. Meanwhile, Bonbon Cadagat delivered 11 for Choi.
In the payoff quarter, de la Cruz led province’s balanced offensive with 7 points but, they fell short as Cadagat and de la Peña scored 5 points each.
De la Peña led Choi with 17 points backstopped by Cadagat with 16 points, Mananquil made 13 markers, and Botsoy Solinap and Bustamante dropped 8 points apiece
Meanwhile, Demonteverde finished with 23 points for Negros Occidental as de la Cruz added 21 points.
On the other hand, Jed Soriano scored 21 points to anchor Yarda 8 Restobar as JR Fernandez and Oso Rojas shot 18 points apiece while James de los Reyes finished with 16 points for UNAC alongside Viktor Decena with 13 points. (JSG)