PMT Clothing and Goto Pilipinas barged into the Final of the Next5Hoops Metro Manila North Leg Intermediate Division after contrasting wins last April 2.
PMT Clothing practically cruised to the 85-72 victory over PNP Enforcers to seal a Finals berth.
Sparked by a huge first quarter, PMT Clothing led by double digits the rest of the way pushing it to as big as 17.
Ervic Selado sizzled with 23 points off the bench for PMT Clothing as he knocked down seven of their 13 triples while Lester Ramos added 12 points and 17 boards.
PMT Clothing also made PNP Enforcers pay for their 17 turnovers, turning it to a decisive 19-4 advantage in points off miscues.
PNP Enforcers stayed toe-to-toe inside the paint, even outrebounding PMT Clothing 64-47, but just lacked consistent firepower.
Rey Gonzales led PNP Enforcers with 22 points, also off the bench, while Alejandro Yanquiling added 15.
Meanwhile, Goto Pilipinas quashed a late rally from Black Label to come away with the 78-71 win that sealed their Finals fate.
From a 16-point lead with over six minutes to play, Goto Pilipinas saw its lead slashed down to just 2 in a five-minute span, no thanks to Black Label’s 18-4 run.
Art Andres stopped the bleeding with back-to-back splits from the stripe before scoring three more free throws in the last 12 seconds to put the game away.
Andres finished with 14 points while Arnel Ibarrientos topscored with 16 that went with nine rebounds and Mark Mercado added 11 points and 16 boards.
Black Label managed to keep the deficit to just single digits for most of the game but didn’t have enough push to make a run big enough to give them the lead.
Leklek Torre paced Black Label in a losing effort with 19 points and five boards.
