Toyota Balintawak clinched the last semifinal berth with an 81-78 victory in overtime over Mail & More with veteran Erwin Sta. Maria firing a career-high 32 points and Cholo Villanueva preserving the win at endgame in the 2008 PBL V-Go Extreme Energy Drink Cup at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Protecting a slim 79-78 lead, Toyota went to Villanueva, who scored two pressure-packed charities with 14.8 seconds remaining and then came through with a steal in the next play to frustrate the Comets.
Meanwhile, Gabe Norwood and Al Vergara, two of the country’s SEA Games heroes, will lead their respective teams at the start of the semifinals series today.
The 5-foot-7 Vergara, who played a key role in the Philippines’ big wins over Indonesia and Malaysia in the recent 24th SEA Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, will be the spearhead of Harbour Centre when it tackles San Mig Coffee in Game 1 of their best-of-three series at 2 p.m.
Norwood, the 6-foot-5 Fil-Am who produced some of the highlights in the country’s four-game sweep of the biennial competition, is again expected to provide stability and firepower when Hapee Toothpaste battles the Road Kings.
With Reed Juntilla, Mark Borboran and Larry Rodriguez giving Norwood all the help he needed, Hapee won a record 9 games, including a seven-game sweep of the elims.
For the Batang Pier to advance to the finals for the fourth straight time, Vergara and company have to bring their level of play several notches to hurdle the Coffee Kings.
“They have to play tough on both ends of the court to get past San Mig Coofee. I expect Al to provide us again the big lift,” said coach Jorge Gallent, who personally watched the game between San Mig Coffee and Pharex the other.