CEBU, Philippines - The semifinal stage of the Cebu Eastern College Alumni Basketball Association's 12th Dr. Chen Lieh Fu Memorial Cup concludes with an exciting double knockout match tonight at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.
The top seeded New Millennium Hardware '95 will square off with Shell '80s in the 7:30 pm opener, while Dewfoam '88 and the First Family Appliance Circle '96 with slug it out in the other sudden-death duel scheduled at 9 pm.
Expect the playing venue to be transformed into a suspense theatre as the four teams will surely fight to the death considering that the winners will advance into the best-of-three championship round that will commence on Thursday.
The second-ranked Class '96 denied No.3 qualifier Shell '80s of an outright finals entry after it scored a 69-66 cliffhanger over the Chester Cokaliong-led squad last Sunday, while Donald Anthony Ting fired 31 points as Class '95 kept its title hunt alive with a 73-55 rout of the already ousted Dimsum Frito 2003.
It was no less a heart-wrenching loss for Class '80s as it led for most of the way aside from drawing an MVP-like performance from top gunner Chester Cokaliong, who charted 22 points despite being held off to only four triples. The streak-shooting league founder and incumbent president went 6-of-7 from the foul line including a pair of pressure-packed free throws that put them on top for the last time, 66-65, with less than a minute left to play.
Joel Chan could have wrapped the match for Shell '80s, but the flashy guard missed a potential game-winning layup.
Compounding the woes of Shell '80s was the burly Shaun Cristopher Wang, who completed a 3-point play off a foul by Edwin Lim to push Class '96 ahead, 68-66, for good. After a failed offensive by Shell '80s, Rex Alinson split his charities to settle the final outcome. Wang topped Class '96 with 15 points followed by Rushmarc Lariosa and Mark Ryan Babor, who scattered 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Cokaliong had been performing par excellence this season, averaging 20-plus points in three semifinal games but his teammates should realize that he couldn't do it all alone. They must step up bigtime at all the time, especially now that there is no room for them to commit mistakes when they collide against a league heavyweight in what could be their last battle for survival tonight.
In their crucial loss to Class '96, Shell '80s drew only 10 points each from Chan and Wilson Yu. The missing factor was Stephen Tan, who was held off to only eight points, a far cry from his 23-point ouput during their win against Dewfoam '88 last Thursday.
Like Shell '80s, Dewfoam '88 is also stuck between a rock and a hard place as it lock up horns with Class '96 capping what could be a CECABA 'Double Thriller' today.
The scores
First game
Class '96 (69) - Wang 15, Lariosa 14, Babor 13, Alinson 11, Go 9, Donayre 5, Renejane 2
Class '80s (66) - Cokaliong 22, Chan 10, Yu 10, S. Tan 8, Z. Tan 7, Cokaliong 4, Lim 3, S. Co 2
Second game
Class '95 (73) - Ting 31, Arjona 14, Yu 12, Gollon 8, Tiu 6, Dy Teves 2
Class 2003 (55) - Uy 16, Cuizon 13, Ciao 10, H. tan 8, Ang 8 (FREEMAN)