CEBU, Philippines - The Assessment Division of coach Rady Abarintos escaped with a 78-75 victory over the Cebu-Customs United Personeros Association (C-CUPA) of team leader Yoli Cena to grab one of the two remaining quarterfinal slots in the Bureau of Customs (BOC) 1st Port of Cebu Sportsfest basketball tournament at the Benedicto College gym.
The eighth and last quarterfinal berth will be contested by the 2-0 CIIS of team leader Dione Edera and the 1-1 MJDL of broker Mike Logarta.
In the other game, the Pimentel D-Force of broker Marty Pimentel ousted the O-COM, 86-69, in a non-bearing match.
Dondon Cadungog paced Assessment with 19 points, including two crucial free throws that broke a 75-all deadlock.
After Inting Bacalla split his charities to make it 78-75 for Assessment, C-CUPA could have forced an overtime but Totong Villanueva misfired his 3-point attempt as the final buzzer expired.
Beking Rollon contributed 16 points for Assessment, while Bacalla and Tata Laborte chipped in 13 and 11 markers, respectively.
Villanueva paced C-CUPA with 23 points.
The scores
First game
Assessment (78) - Cadungog 19, Rollon 16, Bacalla 13, Laborte 11, Enriquez 9, Medalle 8, Urbina 4, Lopez 3, Martinez 1, Navaja 1
C-CUPA (75) - Villanueva 23, Casul 14, Pernito 9, Castillo 8, Sagarino 7, Garcia 4, Bugtai 3, Solidarios 3, J. Garcia 3, Batoon 1 Halftime: 33-all
Second game
Pimentel (86) - Mariano 15, San Pablo 15, Ibo 9, De Gracia 7, Nadal 5, Macasero 4, Pangue 4, Borromeo 4, Solante 2, Allerte 2, Arong 2, Estenzo 2
O-COM (69) - Paloma 30, Herbito 11, Daan 8, Tumakay 5, Paghasian 4, Marlon 2, Canizares 1 Halftime:37-31 (FREEMAN NEWS)