Landbank and Hope in the semi-finals

A 15-4 run in the third quarter and good free-throw shooting in the last period helped Darul Trustee Remittance Landbank beat Babes Boutique 90-82 to move into the semi-finals of the 111th Philippine Independence Basketball Cup at the Brunei Basketball Association Court in Batu Bersurat yesterday.

Babes Boutique had led for most of the match and held a lead as much as 11 points in the second quarter.

At halftime, Landbank were down 49-41, but capped off a great 15-4 run in the third quarter led by Mike Nuguid, scoring nine of the 15, to tie the scores at 55 a piece after three minutes of play.

Both teams started to work hard and scrambled for all the loose balls as every possession was valuable with the game so close. Eventhough Landbank had brought themselves back into the game, at the end of the third period, Babes Boutique still held a slim two-point lead 66-64.

The tides turned when Babes Boutique's offensive weapon, Roldan Binas, fouled out of the game with seven minutes to play. Landbank quickly took the lead 72-69. Both teams got into the penalty early in the final quarter and the battle of free throws was won by Landbank allowing them to successfully complete their comeback victory.

Landbank were led by Nuguid with 25 points and Erneste Espeque delivering 21 points.

Brothers Rhoy and Roldan Binas, meanwhile, top scored for Babes Boutique contributing 21 and 18 points respectively.

"The players followed all the set plays that we had practised," said Landbank head coach, Martin Carreon, when asked about the winning formula.

"The important thing was that we were trying to push their key scoring players into foul trouble and that was what happened. We made their players commit fouls and they eventually fouled out," Carreon added.

Asked on the team's next opponents, Carreon replied: "I hope that we can win the next game because we are not afraid of meeting our opponents since we are totally ready for it."

In the early game, Hope held on to defeat Archmedia/B-Mobile 89-83 to top Group B.

"We felt that we were the underdogs coming into this game but we tried to raise our game and managed to top the group," said Hope assistant coach Bernie Dayao.

On their next game, Dayao said: "The other group consisted of teams that have more experience and also players who may be better compared to our team since we are still very young."

Hope were led by Marcelino Magaan contributing 26 points and Erwin Malit with 18 points.

Archmedia/B-Mobile were led by Dominador Miguel with 21 points and Chris Mariano with 15 points all coming from beyond the arc.

The semi-finals will take place at the same venue on July 4 and will see the only unbeaten team of the tournament Queenielin/Softlab take on De Roy@lle Cafe in the first match at 7pm followed by Hope who will go up against Darul Trustee Remittance Landbank at 8.30pm.The Brunei Times