Montana, Hapee out to arrange title clash

Hapee Toothpaste and Montana Pawnshop hope to seal a best-of-five championship series as they take on separate rivals today in the semifinals of the Sunkist-PBL 2003 Unity Cup at the San Juan Gym.

The Teeth Sparklers collide with ousted John-O in the 2 p.m. match while the Jewelers battle Viva Mineral Water in the 4 p.m. main encounter.

A win by both teams will eliminate the possibility of a playoff, leaving Viva and John-O in a best-of-three battle for third place.

But Viva is hoping for a repeat of their 82-74 triumph over Montana last Tuesday to stay alive.

Under such case, a playoff will be needed to determine which team will claim the last championship berth. And in case of a three-way tie, the team with the highest quotient will clinch the first championship berth while the other two will playoff for the last finals slot.

Both games will be aired live simultaneously over Solar Sports Channel 29 and the National Broadcasting Network from 2-6 p.m.

Both Hapee and Montana came off from rousing wins against separate rivals to share the top with similar 3-1 cards.