MANILA, Philippines - KPL Pacific Online (Batch 06) and defending champion Suntina Orange (Batch 01) beat their respective rivals to clinch the twice-to-beat incentives in the Final Four in Division I of the Xavier Alumni Basketball League-Highlands Steakhouse Cup at the Jacinto Tiu gym of Xavier School in San Juan recently.
KPL Pacific finished the elims with a 7-1 record while Suntina wound up with a 6-2 mark in the tournament sponsored by Highlands Steakhouse at the Mall of Asia.
Barako Bull (97), 2007 finalist Mayor JV Ejercito’s San Juan Mighty, 100 Plus (99) and 2005 champion Mighty Sports (98) dispute the two remaining semis berths in the premier division of the tournament that drew a record 34 teams from 24 batches.
Mark Chua’s 1998/2000 Barako Bull and the TY Tang mentored-2002 Pacific Pipes topped Groups A and B, respectively, to likewise advance to the semis in Division II that lured 18 teams.
Slugging it out for two remaining semis berths are 1999 Del Monte Fit & Right, 2003 See Concepts, 2001/2005 Island Wide, defending champions 1987 Seattle’s Best, 1993/1996 Dragon Fireworks, 1994 Clium, 2001/2002 Ecsta Formula Technology and 2006 Reva.
In Division 3, the Topex Robinson and Celino Cruz-coached 2004 TGPI completed a six-game sweep to gain an outright finals berth. It will face either 2005 2K5 or 2007 2K5.