DAVAO Occidental-Cocolife and San Juan-Go for Gold arranged a knockout semifinal match-up in the Filbasket Subic Championship following separate victories on Wednesday at the Subic Bay Gymnasium.
The second-seeded Tigers defeated Burlington EOG, 88-81, while the third-ranked Knights downed Medical Depot, 88-73, in the quarterfinal round, taking advantage of their twice-to-beat advantage to pull through.
The last two champions of the MPBL will once again clash this time in a knockout game for a spot in the inaugural Filbasket finals.
Quick-fire Knights
Davao Occidental won the MPBL Lakan Season Finals at the expense of San Juan, avenging their championship series defeat during the Datu Cup.
The Knights opened the fourth on a 12-0 tear to turn a 65-70 deficit into a 77-70 lead. A lay-up by John Wilson brought the lead to 84-74, the biggest of the match.
Wilson scored 23 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Keith Agovida had 11 points and nine rebounds for Davao Occidental.
Alvin Abundo had a game-high 28 points for San Juan. He buried three straight three-pointers to give the Knights a 36-15 lead in the second period, enough to secure the blowout victory.
Rhenz Abando also had a solid outing for San Juan with 18 points for the Knights.
James Castro finished with 16 points for Burlington in the defeat.
Patrick Cabahug scored 22 points, but Simon Camacho was limited to only two points for Medical Depot.
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