Manuel propels Pharex to semis

MANILA, Philippines - Vic Manuel came through with a split and a hard drive in the closing seconds to lift Pharex B-Complex to a big 86-83 victory over AddMix for the first semifinal berth in the PBL PG Flex-Erase Placenta Cup at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig yesterday.

The 6-foot-4 Manuel shattered an 83-all count with a split then drove through a slew of AddMix defenders for the basket that sealed the Fighting Maroons’ fifth victory against a lone setback.

Pharex B, which held AddMix scoreless in the last 4:40, thus became the first team to advance to the Final Four while dealing AddMix its fourth loss against two victories.

Pharex goes for the first twice-to-beat advantage in the semis against Excelroof on Tuesday.

Manuel’s endgame heroics capped the former PSBA star’s sterling performance as the finished with another double-double effort – 16 points and 12 rebounds.

JR Tecson of San Beda topscored for Pharex B with 19 points, including 18 coming from the first half.

“I’m very happy that we are now in the semis. We’ve got one foot now in the finals,” said Pharex coach Aboy Castro.

More than clinching a berth in the semis, Castro said he was more pleased with the way his boys closed out a game in a tight situation.

“I liked it because the game was close,” said Castro.

The Fighting Maroons actually trailed majority of the way, the last at 78-83 on three free throws by Alain Maliksi with 4:40 remaining.

Ascof Lagundi made it a double celebration for Pascual Laboratories as it ousted Fern-C, 83-71, in the other game to keep its Final Four bid alive.

The loss ended the Ferntastics’ campaign with a 1-5 win-loss card.

The Cough Busters built a commanding 31-point lead late in the third, but the Ferntastics, behind John Wilson, struck back to within, 71-78.

But that was the closest Fern-C could get as Edwin Asoro took over to power the Coughbusters the victory, their third against the same number of losses. But the Maroons never gave up and held their rivals scoreless the rest of the way.

“It’s a good thing we made a lot of stops in the last seven possessions,” said Castro.

“He’s very athletic and tough to defend. I’m not surprised with his big game,” said Castro of Manuel.

The Transformers opened the second quarter down by 11 points, 15-26, but Ciriacruz and Jan Colina kept their team within striking distance before Liztan Amplado completed a three-point play to knot the count at 40, 2:45 left.