Leman's Hardware Silay barged into the championship round after repulsing Thursday night DRJ Wellness, 100-93, in the semifinal round of the Ayala Basketball Club-Kalimansi Mix Cup at the Ayala Northpoint.

After losing its initial semis encounter, Leman's fought hard up to the very end as it survived a late DRJ rally to enter the championship round for the fifth time in the last six conferences.

Leman's will clash with Sugarland Hardware for the coveted crown in the best-of-three series starting this evening.

Trailing by as much as 13 points in the final quarter, DRJ went on a 12-2 run to narrow the gap at three points with three minutes remaining in the game.

Leman's gathered its composure back and answered with six straight points as the lead went up by nine with a minute left.

When everyone thought that the game was already over, DRJ suddenly exploded from the three- point range while Leman's started to commit turnovers and miss crucial free throws.

As the lead was down to four points with 17 seconds remaining, Brod Hojilla who led his team with 28 points, made three crucial free throws down the stretch to put their hard- fighting counterparts away for good.

Tad Caperonce also had 23 points for Leman's while Philip Abong and Steven Villanueva had 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Renren Lacson led DRJ with 25 points anchored on six triples, Mickey Bernabe added 23 and Boknoy Locsin chipped in 16 points.

Game 2 will be on Thursday and the third on Monday next week if needed.*AVDC

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