CEBU, Philippines - The top seeded New Millenium Hardware '95 and the fifth-ranked Dewfoam '88 bested separate foes to set up a championship showdown in the Cebu Eastern College Alumni Basketball Association's 12th Dr. Chen Lieh Fu Memorial Cup last Tuesday night at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.
Donald Anthony Ting survived a torrid hardcourt shootout with Chester Cokaliong to power Class '95 to a hard-earned 80-75 victory over the third seeded Shell '80s, while Class '88 rode on a sizzling offensive in the middle quarters to terminate the First Family Appliance Circle '96, 47-36.
Class '95 and '88, thus, will face each other in the best-of-three finals starting on Tuesday, while the Cokaliong-led Shell '80s will fight Class '96 for third place in a winner-take-all affair.
Ting waxed hot on all angles to dish out a season-high 43 points, enough to overshadow another big night of Cokaliong, who sank nine triples of his 39 points.
Class '80s led by a matchstick at halftime, 39-28, but Class '95 turned the tide of the match in its favor using a solid 25-14 rally in the third period. Class '80s kept the game close until the closing minutes of the contest, but Ting was hot enough to mastermind NM Hardware's five-point escape.
In the other game, Ricky Yu had 17 points, while Gregorio Aguilar, Jr. and Ernest Tanting scattered 14 and 10 markers, respectively, as Class '88 upended Class '96 for its first finals appearance.
Class '88 trailed by two in the first 10 minutes of play, 7-9, but retaliated with a searing 28-12 run to break the game wide open, 35-21.
The scores
First game
Class '95 (80) - Ting 43, Yu 12, Gollon 9, Dy Teves 8, Arjona 6, Tiu 2
Class '80s (75) - Cokaliong 39, Chan 11, S. Tan 11, Z. Tan 11, Yu 3
Second game
Class '88 (47) - Yu 17, Aguilar 14, Tanting 10, Lim 4, Yu 2
Class '96 (36) - Ang 12, Lariosa 9, Renejane 6, Donayre 6, Babor 2, Wang 1 (FREEMAN)