The road only gets tougher for these lower-seeded teams in the 2017 BPO Classics Recreational Plus Division.
Alere and QuintilesIMS hurdled their foes over the weekend at the Phenom Sports Center to advance to the playoff round of the tournament.
But their victories got Alere and QuinitleIMS a date each against the top teams in their pool.
No. 4 Alere tripped lower-seeded Ingram Micro, 82-72, to face Pool 2 top seed Accenture in the quarterfinals.
Banking on a hot start, Alere managed to maintain the upper hand for the remainder of the game despite Ingram Micro’s attempts at a comeback.
Ingram Micro bounced back from a slow start with a 20-15 second period, but Alere came out of the halftime break guns ablaze to lead by 20, 59-39, with 4:14 left in the third.
While Ingram Micro didn’t just roll over and give up, Alere held on to the lead the rest of the way.
Joseph Carlos had the hottest hand for Alere, finishing with 28 points and nine rebounds to make up for his seven turnovers.
Ed Salvador, meanwhile, worked both ends and registered 17 points and 13 rebounds–nine defensive.
Only six players scored for Ingram Micro with Daniel Baaya and Archie Dator combining for 41 markers.
Meanwhile, fourth place QuintlesIMS nipped ARMCO, 59-57, to advance against top seed Teletech in Pool 1.
In a close fourth quarter affair, both teams traded leads early but QuintlesIMS managed to gain separation although no more than six points.
QuintlesIMS was in the lead only by five, 59-54, with still 41 seconds left but ARMCO only managed a 3-pointer from Evan Salandanan the rest of the way.
Michael Guevarra paced QuintlesIMS with 16 points and eight rebounds while Juan Navarro added 14 points and six rebounds.
Of seven scorers on its team, ARMCO drew a game-best 26 points from Russel Rida, who also had 10 boards.
Action in the Recreational Plus division continue this weekend, still at the Phenom Sports Center.
