By ADRIAN STEWART CO
RA-AK Transport tarnished the erstwhile unbeaten record of Supreme ABF/SilverGraces, 82-74, to close out the elimination in the 1st United Negros Basketball League (UNBL) Open Tournament at Bacolod Tay Tung High School.
Bacolod BingoPlus stars Mark Yee and Raymund Ilagan spearheaded the offense for RA-AK Transport, with the former tallying 19 points and the latter adding 12. Renz Solomon also hit double-digits with 10 markers.
RA-AK Transport dictated the tempo of the game and was up 56-47 after three quarters, but Supreme ABF/SilverGraces rallied behind the tandem of Landry Sanjo and Frederick Elombi to cut the deficit to 56-58.
However, Yee and Jhan Nermal uncorked back-to-back triples for RA-AK Transport to widen the lead anew to 64-57, but Supreme ABF/SilverGraces responded with a 13-1 scoring blast to snatch the lead at 70-65.
RA-AK Transport then got a triple from Nermal and a twinner from Yee to force an extended period with a 70-all score before they dominated the OT period with a 10-1 rampage.
Sanjo, formerly of Southwestern University Cobras, led the way for Supreme ABF with 27 points, Elombi chipped in 14 markers, while Bill Geolingo and Stefano Ayuco had 11 and 10, respectively.
RA-AK Transport and Supreme ABF/SilverGraces ended the eliminations with a 6-1 win-loss slate, but it was the former who got the no. 1 seed over the latter due to the quotient system.
Acster Marketing, the hottest team in the tournament with their sixth straight victory, also ended the eliminations with a 6-1 slate following a 100-78 rout of University of St. La Salle Stingers but ended up as the no. 3 seed team.
The knockout semifinals are slated this Saturday, December 3, with RA-AK Transport facing Tea Tas/Puff Boss at 2:00 p.m. and Acster Marketing and Supreme ABF/SilverGraces battling at 3:45 p.m.
The winners of the two semifinals matches will face each other in a one-game finale on Sunday afternoon, December 4, following the battle-for-third place game between the two semifinals losers./ASC, WDJ