The Fil-Sino Michael Miranda Memorial Basketball Tournament has reached the final round of eliminations, with the first game on the docket was Heineken versus Asahi.
Heineken got out to a strong start and took the lead, 30-17, after one quarter. They then came out strong again in the second to extend their lead to 16 points by halftime. Asahi was able to respond with a 23-18 third quarter to cut the deficit to 69-58 as the game went into the final frame.
The Heinekens were determined to protect their 11-point lead going into the final quarter, and inflated it to 20 points as they outscored Asahi by the time the final buzzer ended with a final score of 109-89. Staney Tizon led Heineken with 29 points, while Cesar Tan amassed 28 points and player of the game honors, followed by Buddy Eufre with 21 points. Meanwhile, Polo Lopingco led Asahi with a game-high 39 points, Hegen Lucasan scored 11 points, and Joel Masadia notched 8 points.
Vitamilk defeated Summit in a nonbearing game 97-70
In the other game between Vitamilk and Summit, the latter started the game with an 8-0 run, but after a time out, Vitamilk were able to bounce back and the quarter ended with them trailing by only four points, 14-10.
Jason Yap dropped four buckets from behind the arc, along with a 15-point Ben Bunol performance in the 2nd quarter as Vitamilk took a double digit lead going into halftime, 47-35.
Summit couldn’t keep up in the remaining 2 quarters due to the lack of players, as the non-bearing game was settled, 97-70 in favor of Vitamilk. Ben Buñol led the winning team with 19 points, Jason Yap followed with 18 and player of the game honors, Macoy Reyes tallied 12, and Lito Dumdum recorded 10. Edward Baniel led Summit with 22 points, followed by Archie Moreno with 16, while DK Equipaje and Jet Pili tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively.*
