Davao Occidental, San Juan forge semis duel in FilBasket cagefest

MANILA, Philippines – Davao Occidental-Cocolife and San Juan-Go for Gold turned back their respective foes Wednesday to set up a semifinal showdown in the FilBasket Subic Championship at the Subic Gym.

Drawing strength from John Wilson’s 23-point, eight-rebound effort, the Tigers edged Burlington EOG Sports, 88-81, while the Knights relied on Alvin Abundo 28-point eruption in smashing Medical Depot, 88-73.

The wins set Davao Occidental and San Juan in a knockout duel this weekend.

Both Davao and San Juan enjoyed twice-to-beat edge after finishing the elimination round as the second and third seeds, respectively, with identical 7-3 (win-loss) records in the elims and made sure to capitalize on it.

It was made sweeter by the fact that both the Tigers and the Knight avenged their elimination round losses to Burlington, 76-69, last week and Medical Depot, 69-67, last November 3.

Now, the Tigers and Knights are on collision course for a chance to make the finals and emerge the first champion of this tournament that drew participation from 11 teams.

Keith Agovida and Robby Celiz provided some support for Davao Occidental and contributed 11 and 10 points while team captain Billy Ray Robles did most of the heavy lifting in defense with 14 boards.

Abundo, for his part, added 10 assists to his hot shooting game to lead San Juan, which dominated Meical Depot most of the game.