UL, UPang quintets clash for Mayor Al’s Cup
MAYOR AL’S CUP
AS expected, defending champion University of Luzon (UL) Golden Tigers and 2005 titlist University of Pangasinan (UPang) Webczars subdued their respective opponents in the semi-final round and will face off in the championship games of the Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. Cup basketball tournament.
The Golden Tigers and the Webczars will play in a best-of-three title showdown at the Dagupan People’s Astrodome starting October 1.
In their final game for the semi-finals, the Webczars took the pace from the start and never relinquished up to the finish to butcher the PIMSAT Red Dragons by 34 points, 90-56. In their second game, the boys of Cesar Duque surprisingly trailed the Red Dragons in the first period, 21-13, led at half by two, 36-34, until finally found their old rhythm in the last two quarters to subdue the stubborn Red Dragons, 87-75, and captured the first slot for this year’s championship match.
For the Golden Tigers, their last semi-final game was marred by controversies followed by fracas due to questionable calls made by two Baguio City court arbiters.
The game went into a tense overtime and the more-skilled dribblers of Dagupan City’s dad Chito Samson prevailed with a 96-92 victory over the spirited and highly motivated Lyceum Northwestern University (LNU) Dukes of Atty. Gonzalo Duque, bagging the second berth for finals.
“If not for those multi-bum calls by the referees, obviously we should have won the match and no more overtime happened and there would have been a third game,” Dukes assistant coach William Manaois fumed.
“Amin yong laro kung hindi sana mali-mali yong tawag ng dalawa,”echoed Dukes second assistant coach Juan Castro.
This year’s championship match will be the third time in three years that the Webczars and Golden Tigers will tangle with each other.
In 2005, the Webczars took the title in three skirmishes while the Golden Tigers wrested the crown last year by a sweep.—JAG,Jr.
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