ARMCO marched on to the Recreational Plus Final of the BPO Classics Season 8 even as Transcom and Sitel set up a meeting for the Recreational title after thrilling games over the weekend.
Armco hung tough in the fourth and came away with a 63-53 win over second seed to enter the finals.
With Sykes breathing down its neck, Armco kept a safe distance in the payoff period, not letting the opponent come within five points.
Armco was up by 14 with over five minutes left, but Sykes just wouldn’t give up and trimmed the lead to 51-56 with 2:16 to play.
Led by Lorenzo Jacob, Armco closed out Sykes with a 7-1 run. Jacob impressed with an all-around game of 17 points, 23 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks.
Primo Dulay and Alfred Fulay tandemed for Skyes, which last held the lead with over 6 minutes left in the third quarter, 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, Transcom turned back Sitel B, 65-59, to book the first finals berth in the Recreational Division of the tournament organized by One Unite Sports.
Transcom went on a 10-3 breakaway in the final two minutes to snatch the win away after trailing for most of the payoff period.
Three players chipped in double-digit points for Transcom with Aaron Caringal, John Dela Fuente and John Queze finishing with 13, 12 and 10 points, in that order.
Transcom also had an 8-2 edge in three-pointers made and only had 15 turnovers compared to Sitel B’s 24.
Melchor Zapanta had a game-best 20 points in Sitel B’s exit.
Sitel A, though, was victorious in its bid to enter the Finals after an 88-81 drubbing of Eastvantage.
Taking the lead for good with 7:31 to play, Sitel A pushed it to as big as 12 down the stretch making it even harder for Eastvantage to come back.
Scattered scoring and smooth passing from Sitel A subdued the strong starting five performance from Eastvantage with five players in double digits.
Percival Sanchez and John Rivera had 15 markers apiece to show the way for Sitel A, which had 20 assists against Eastvantage’s 9.
The game’s best scorers came from Eastvantage with Lui Magallanes finishing with 20 points and John Fermalino with 18, but their efforts weren’t enough for their squad.
