PAGADIAN EXACTED vengeance from its blowout loss the other day to advance to the 2021 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup semifinals on Friday night.
The Explorers, already disarmed of their twice-to-beat edge, scraped past Kapatagan, 87-76, in their quarterfinal duel rubber match at the Pagadian City Gymnasium in Zamboanga del Sur.
Pagadian will clash with fourth-ranked Petra Cement-Roxas in the best-of-three semifinals first phase. Game One is set on Sunday, August 1 at 4 pm.
Knotted at 72 midway through the payoff period, Rich Guinitaran kick-started a game-deciding run for Pagadian.
Guinitaran scored a layup and was fouled by Ryan Costelo, who at the time was leading the Braves. To make it more destructive, the foul was reviewed as a flagrant foul penalty 1 and forced Costelo to sit for two minutes.
Jeric Serrano’s fast break layup at the two-minute mark capped 12 unanswered points for the Explorers, and also sealed the semifinals spot, 84-72.
In the ensuing play, things got heated when Shaq Alanes hit Serrano hard on a layup attempt. The former was slapped with a flagrant foul penalty 2 and caused him to be ejected with 1:40 to go.
Guinitaran bounced back from a poor showing the other day, making 22 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, two steals, and two blocks for Pagadian.
Von Dechos sank four triples on his way to 16 points, while Keanu Caballero just missed a double-double with 11 points, nine assists, and five rebounds.
Costelo finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, seven assists in the losing cause. Teytey Teodoro topscored with 19 points.
Renz Palma, Kapatagan’s top gun, was held to just two points in the second half for 10 points.
Marlon Monte, the Braves’ leading scorer in the tournament, missed all of his four attempts from the field, tallying just four points all from the charity stripe.