TOP: Ironmen nip Pacquiao-led MP Warriors to book finals seat

Cobra Energy Drink spoiled another spirited challenge of host MP Pacman Gensan as it hacked out a thrilling 82-79 victory to nail the first finals berth of the Tournament of the Philippines Second Leg at the Lagao gym in General Santos City. The Ironmen blew an 11-point, third-quarter lead as they saw the Warriors fought back to within two, 81-79. with 1:41 remaining off big man Erian Daja's triple. But the Warriors couldn’t sustain their comeback and failed to snatch a win. Jasper Callo muffed a triple and John Gonzaga bungled a two-pointer at the same time allowing Cobra to gain possession. The host squad had another chance to tie it, but Callo missed a jumper from 15 feet allowing Pari Llagas to secure the rebound. JR Tecson split his charities with five tenths of a second left for the final tally. It was the second win in as many games for coach Lawrence Chongson and his troop, who got a free ride to the leg’s finals on Saturday. For now, their only goal now is to beat Treston Laguna on Friday to earn two bonus points for sweeping the elimination round. "It's really hard to beat a team that is playing at home, luckily we were able to pull it off," said Chongson. Some of the good-sized crowd on hand perhaps came to see Pacquiao play for the second straight time. Pacquiao went 1-for-7 from the field, had an assist and a steal in just eight minutes of action. His lone basket came in the third quarter on a three-pointer from the left wing, cutting the Ironmen lead to four points, 47-43, 7:39 in the third. He sat on the bench for good with about four minutes of the said period. But the star of the night was Elmer Espiritu. The former UAAP Mythical Five member from University of the East dazzled the crowd on both ends, finishing with 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and five blocks. One of the rejections came against Pacquiao, who tried to hit a fade away shot in the first period only for Espiritu to easily swat it away that eventually led to a three-point play by Pari Llagas. Llagas was the topscorer with 19 points along with seven rebounds while JR Tecson made 12 points, including two that eventually put Cobra up, 62-51, with 4:27 in the third. Daja finished with 16 points and eight rebounds while Gonzaga tallied 14 points in a losing cause. The Warriors will play a virtual knockout game with Misamis Oriental for the last finals berth on Friday after the Meteors capitalized on the sluggish showing of Laguna to score an 86-79 victory. Patrick Cabahug drained 18 points while three others scored in double figures (Neil Raneses, 13, Dino Daa 12, and Khiel Misa 11) as MisOr put the game away by leading several 19-point leads in the second half. Also contributing for the new-look Meteors, who finished second to Cebu in last year's Liga Pilipinas Conference III, is center Mark Andaya. The ex-pro slotman had seven points and eight rebounds. "We lost the other game because we haven’t established our chemistry yet," said coach Jun Noel, whose squad lost a heartbreaking 70-69 setback to Cobra in the leg opener. "We played much better and hopefully we can slowly get into form." Alain Musni had a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, but the Stallions had 10 rebounds less than the Meteors (43-33).