By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts and the Colegio de Sta. Ana de Victorias (CSAV) Titans secured their places in the 2nd United Negros Basketball League (UNBL) Aspirants Cup semifinals after besting their separate quarterfinal foes.

The Thunderbolts overcame a slow start to turn back Trinity Christian School, 81-67, in a knockout quarterfinals match held at the Bacolod Tay Tung High School Gym in Bacolod City over the weekend.

Paul Adrian Barcelona was named Acster Player of the Game after tallying 29 points, while Kyle Pimentel and Tobby Matthew Orbista contributed 20 and 12 markers, respectively, for the Thunderbolts.

Trinity surprised the Thunderbolts with a strong first half performance en route to a 41-35 halftime lead before widening to its largest at 55-43 late in the third canto.

Barcelona anchored the Thunderbolts’ late run to cut the deficit to 51-56 before turning things around in the final quarter behind conversions from Orbista and Ronald Miguel Delada.

For their part, the Titans clinched the last semifinals seat following a 92-57 domination of University of St. La Salle-Bacolod in their separate quarterfinals match.

Edsel Manday took home the Acster Player of the Game honors as he finished with 21 points.

Kevin Sonido made 18 points, while Rhojun Tenacio and Gabrielle Soberano ended with 13 and 11 points, respectively, for CSAV.

The Titans made their presence felt early as they erected a 50-29 first quarter advantage before they cruised the rest of the way behind the collective efforts of Manday, Sonido and Tenacio.

The Thunderbolts will face Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod (CSA-B), while the Titans will square off with St. John’s Institute Falcons in the knockout semifinals on Saturday, January 27.

CSA-B and the Falcons earned an outright semifinals seat after finishing their respective groups with a perfect 5-0 win-loss slate./ASC, WDJ