By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
AICC Manila and San Juan City arranged a best-of-three finals affair after beating their respective semis rivals in the FilBasket Subic Championship at the Subic gym Friday night.
The Manila dribblers routed the Pasig-Sta. Lucia Realtors, 88-68, while the San Juan City squeaked past the Davao Occidental Tigers-Cocolife, 85-84, to advance to the finals starting Saturday.
Michael Mabulac led AICC Manila with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Chris Bitoon chipped in 13 points, and Hesed Gabo added 11 points and seven assists.
AICC Manila, who advanced to the semis after routing MTrans Batangas City, 75-65, last Tuesday, never looked back after taking a 24-15 opening-quarter lead.
Jeckster Apinan topscored for Pasig with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The Tigers threatened to turn the game around when they produced seven straight points from Billy Ray Robles, Robby Celiz and Joseph Terso to tie the count at 71-all.
They even took a 78-76 lead on a John Wilson jumper but the Knights refused to be intimidated with Paul Hernendez burying a triple and Orlan Wamar adding a short jumper to regain the lead for good.
Davao’s last attempt came in the last 19 seconds with a Keith Agovida floater, but they ran out of time.
Omar erupted for 26 points, including four treys, while Paolo Hernandez and Adrian Nocum added 14 and 12 points, respectively.
