RP-Spring reaches finals

CEBU CITY – Imports Bobby Parks and Hamsa Jihad joined forces to power RP-Spring Cooking Oil past Petronas of Malaysia, 93-83, and into the finals of the Southeast Asian Basketball Champions Cup at the Cebu Coliseum here.

At presstime, RP-Guardo was still playing Singapore. The local squad, however, was expected to dispose of the visiting team and arrange an all-Filipino final with Spring Cooking Oil.

The seven-time PBA best import Parks and Jihad combined for 28 of the team’s 37-point output in the fourth quarter to lead Spring to its third straight win in this tourney jointly organized by the Basketball Association of the Philippines and Cebu Basketball League.

Jihad, an American coach of the Brunei national team who came over to test his playing skills here, topscored with 28 points with Parks adding 27. Cebuano hotshot Joel Co, Spring’s leading scorer in its previous victories, contributed 22 markers.

"Our imports are capable of doing what they do best at any given time. But when they pull over in offense, the locals can take over," said Spring coach Tito Palma. "We expect an All-Filipino final showdown but it does not mean we’ll take it easy. We came here to win."

RP-Guardo, the other Philippine team vying for a slot to the ABC Champions Cup slated next month in Malaysia, was likewise expected to cruise to its third win as it was playing lowly Singapore as of press time yesterday.

Import Khalid Livingston and K. Saryaseelan scored 28 points apiece but their efforts were not enough as Malaysia stumbled to its 2nd loss after three games in this five-day event supported by Osaka Iridology, Uniherb, Accel, YKL Films, Molten, Absolute Water, Burlington and PCSO.