COLEGIO de San Lorenzo-V Hotel routed Philippine National Police, 106-64, and Diliman College-JPA Freight Logistics outsteadied Manuel Luis Quezon University-Victoria Sports, 69-59, to clinch the last two semis berths in the 2017 MBL Open basketball tournament at the PNP Sports Center in Camp Crame.
The Griffins brushed aside the disappointments of their previous setback and vented their ire on the Responders to arrange a semifinal duel against No. 2 seed Philippine Christian University.
The Blue Dragons of coach Rensy Bajar played inspired basketball and held off repeated rallies by the Stallions to set up a semifinal encounter against top seed FEU-NRMF-Gerry’s Grill.
The Tamaraws and the Dolphins, who finished 1-2 in the elimination round, enjoy twice-to-beat advantages in the semis of the tournament sponsored by Smart Sports, Star Bread, Dickies Underwear, Ironcon Builders and Gerry’s Grill.
Five mainstays, led by James Castanares and Algie Baldevia, scored in double figures for the Griffins of manager Jimi Lim and coach Boni Garcia.
Castanares topscoredcwith 15 points, gollowed by Baldevia with 13 and Jon Gabriel and Dominic Borja with 12 points apiece.
Julius Criste carried the fight for PNP with points.
The 42-point winning margin by CdSL over PNP was one of the biggest in recent history of the 18-year-old league, surpassing the previous high of 37 points established by FEU over Emilio Aguinaldo College last April..
Diliman College, which is still fresh from winning the Fr. Martin’s Cup earlier in the week, relied on Rickson Gerero, Jonathan Regencia and Kristoffer Torrado to eliminate MLQU-Victoria Sports.
Gerero, one of the team’s most dependable scorers, fired 16 points while Regencia added 14 points in another solid effort by the Jerry Alday-backed Blue Dragons.
Kristoffer Torrado had 10 points.
Jayson Grimaldo finished with 20 pounts for the Rainier Carpio-coached Stallions, who bowed out with a 3-5 record.
The scores:
First game
CdSL-V Hotel (106)—Castanares 15, Baldevia 13, Gabriel 12, Formento 12, Borja 10, De la Cruz 8, Chabi Yo 6, Calizo 6, Laman 5, Vargas 4, Paclarin 4, Callano 3, Gohar 3, Rosas 3, Nuyda 2.
PNP (64)—Criste 16, Cabrera 11, Elopre 10, Gonzales 6, Dia 4, Nicolas 4, Santiago 4, Ongutan 4, Tolentino 3, Bayabao 2.
Quarterscores: 35-22, 66-34, 87-52, 106-64.
Second game
Diliman-JPA Freight (69) — Gerero 16, Regencia 14, Torrado 10, Bauzon 8, Angeles 7, Onggulo 5, Salazar 4, Corpuz 3, Ligon 2.
MLQU-Victoria Sports (59) — Grimaldo 20, De la Cruz 13, Rivera 8, Lao 6, Detubio 3, Asturiano 3, Sumay 2, Jamila 2, Fabila 2.
Quarterscores: 21-19, 37-29, 49-38, 69-59.