It will be UNO-R (A)/Davies Phils. against CSA-B/Choi Sportsweart in the Class A finals of the 13 th Tan Kek Pin Memorial Basketball Cup as CSA-B squeaked past USLS President's Gym, 80-79, in their semifinals match-up at Bacolod Tay Tung High School Gym, Sunday night.

An undergoal stab from Ruel Balgos with six seconds left in the clock, carried CSA-B Choi to the finals while UNO-R advanced to the championship by outplaying Willtrade Sagay Central, 79-63.

The championship match will be played at the West Negros University Gym 6 p.m. on March 16.

It was a dramatic and heart thumping victory for CSA-B against USLS President's Gym as the latter launched an endgame rally that erased a 16-point deficit earlier.

Trailing CSA-B, 54-67, going to the fourth quarter, USLS President's Gym opened the first three minutes of the payoff period with a 9-1 run engineered by Allen Dionela.

Holding on to their dwindling lead, Choi twin towers of Jornel Laborte and Balgos pounded it inside to restore the lead back to 72-64, but USLS Stingers Mark De La Cruz and Eman Sevilla hit back-to-back trey to cut the deficit to two points.

A steal and layup by Mark De Real finally put USLS in the lead, 75-74, but Peewee Demonteverde of CSA-B Choi returned the compliment with a steal and converted a free throw to tie the game at 75-all with 2:32 left in the clock.

In transition, Sevilla snatched the rebound from Choi's twin towers to score on a putback but three free throws from Laborte and Balgos gave back the lead to CSAB, 78-77.

Sevilla scored on another offensive putback to put USLS on top 79-78 with 44 seconds left and after botched attempts by both teams, Choi mapped out its last offensive.

With 11.3 seconds left, Demonteverde was able to recover a loose ball and his attempt was deflected, but the ball landed in the waiting hands of Balgos who was positioned under the basket. Balgos put up the shot that slowly rolled in leaving USLS with .6 second to score.

President's Gym lobbed the ball in the shaded area but it was tapped out by the frontline of Choi as time expired.

Demonteverde scored 11 points in the second quarter, while Balgos, Laborte and Johnson Salazar combined for 22 points in the first half to give Choi a 43-37 halftime lead.

Laborte had a game-high 20 points while Demonteverde finished with 18, Balgos tallied 16, Johnson Salazar picked up 13, and Alfred Valle had 10 points.

Janus Calma, De La Cruz, and Sevilla delivered 13 points apiece, with Sevilla scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter, Rendell Bernales and Kevin Villafranca shot 12 points, Dionela hit 7, and De Real with 6 points.

In the other semis encounter, Rodel Canino and Ritcer Santillan combined for 15 points to push the UNO-R Rams to a 24-11 first quarter lead.

Sagay Central could not make a dent on the Davies lead in the next two quarters as they were outscored, 35-32. UNO-R extended the lead to 59-43 at the end of the third quarter.

Jeff Jacinto, who scored 17 straight points for Willtrade spanning from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, led a mini comeback as Sagay Central cut the deficit to 50-62.

But the rally was shortlived as the Rams responded with a 7-0 run to take the life out of Willtrade and seal the finals encounter with Choi.

Canino led a balanced Davies offensive with 16 points while Jacinto topscored for Willtrade with a game-high 23 points.*with a report from Stephen Tan

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