RA-AK Transport snapped the unbeaten streak of Supreme ABF/SilverGraces in extra time 82-74 at the penultimate day of the elimination round of the 1st United Negros Basketball League (UNBL) Open Tournament on Sunday at Tay Tung High School Po Hang Gymnasium in Bacolod City.
RA-AK tied their victim at 6-1 in the standings to force a triple tie, as the hottest team in the tourney, Acster Marketing, roared to its sixth straight victory against USLS Stingers, 100-78.
RA-AK got the top seed based on a higher quotient of 1.03378, giving it a slim lead over Supreme ABF’s 1.03311, followed by Acster at 0.93464.
The Knockout Semifinals will be this Saturday, commencing 2 pm, with RA-AK Transport playing against Tea Tas/Puff Boss followed by the tussle between Acster Marketing and Supreme ABF/SilverGraces at 3:45 pm. The winners advance to the finals the following day.
RA-AK was in the driver’s seat for the first 3 quarters, enjoying a 47-56 lead going to the fourth. Landry Sanjo and Frederick Elombi joined hands to cut the deficit, 56-58, but Mark Yee and Jhan Nermal connected on back to back triples to give RA-AK some breathing room at 64-57.
A 13-1 SilverGraces run pushed them on the brink of an elimination round sweep with a minute left in the game. However, Nermal connected on an off balance corner triple and then Yee knotted the score at 70 on a bank shot with 10.5 seconds left to force extra time.
With momentum on RA-AK side, they engineered a 10-1 run that sealed the top spot in the tournament.
Perfect Skin Player of the Game Yee paced RA-AK Transport with 19 points, Raymund Ilagan – 12, Renz Solomon – 10, Mark De La Cruz – 8, May Parohinog – 7 and Nermal – 6.
Supreme ABF was led by Sanjo with a game-high 27 markers, Elombi added 14 points, Bill Geolingo- 11, and Stefano Ayuco – 10.
Tea Tas /Puff Boss caught the last bus to the semis with back-to-back victories over the weekend, against CSA-B Let’s Go Strived, 80-75 and LCC-B Team Davies Paint, 85-79. Tea Tas and Strived were tied at the standings at 3-4, but the winner over the other rule prevailed and Puff Boss moves on to the next round.
It was a sorry exit for Let’s Go Strived as it suffered its 4th straight defeat, also falling to Acster Marketing on Saturday, 80-77.
UNO-R Red House Taiwan Shabu Shabu ended its campaign on a bright note, defeating LCC-B Team Davies Paint, 96-74, to improve their record to 2-5.
Aside from the trophies, the Champion will receive a P50k cash prize, P30k for 1st Runner UP, P20k for 2nd Runner up and P10k for 3rd Runner up. The tournament MVP will receive prize money of P10k courtesy of Rigpoint-Petrogazz CSAV Titans.*
