Jun Bautista powered himself in the paint to finish with 32 points while swing player Tecson drove for 19 markers to initiate the offensive attack for the much favored team Western Union. In addition, team mate “silent operator” Bong Alambra scored 14 and blocked 6 shots attempts to clamp down on the offense of the aggressive Jaguar team. In spite of a stellar performance of two Jaguar superstars, Hener Aguinaldo and Jun Lanzuela who dropped 22 and 20 respectively, they were not able to get a much needed force from bigman, Phillip Manago who only managed to score with 10 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. ATT – Jaguar tried to get back on the game with 5 three points from Aguinaldo but the remittance specialist played the clock to their advantage to totally shut down on the claws of Jaguar.
In other semifinal match, Rangers was not able to hold on to a two point lead with seconds remaining on the match as Surangel and Sons Forward, Eric Manio, left open on the wings draining a three point shot to get the lead back for his team. And with 15 ticks left on the ball game, Rangers point guard Noel Avenido attempted a shot beyond the arc that rattled out that fell to the hands of Arnold Undecimo who was then fouled. Undecimo then extended their lead by sinking two free throws and finally finish it off with the Rangers team. Final score 82 – 79 where Arnold topscored team Surangel with 31 points while Jay Naguit scored 21 for the Rangers on the losing side.
Game 2 of the best of three resume on Sunday where Western Union meets with ATT Jaguar on the first game while Rangers and Surangel battles once more on the second match.
