Jollibee, Country House advance to IRBL semis

The 2004 Inter Restaurant Basketball League semifinals is pretty much set after fourth seed Jollibee thrashed El Segundo’s Restaurant during the early morning hours yesterday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

With the win, Jollibee earned the right to face pennant champion Cappricciosa at 11pm Monday night for a ticket to the best-of-three championship series.

Joining the two in the Final Four is Country House, which easily secured its berth after winning by default over Keeraku Wednesday night.

The other semifinal slot was yet to be officially filled as second seed Angel Wings and LSG Sky Chefs were scheduled to battle late last night, however, league officials indicated after the Jollibee-El Segundo bout that Sky Chefs have declined to take part in the contest, resulting in Angel Wings advancing further.

An official outcome was yet to be determined as of press time.

If all plays out the way league officials indicated, Angel Wings will take on Country House on August 25 to determine the other finals’ competitor.

For its part, Jollibee got another huge performance from forward Edwil Reyes and held off a desperation charge by El Segundo in the dying minutes to leave with a 76-63 victory.

Reyes and company, however, got off to a slow start and managed to put up just 10 points in the board. Fortunately, it was enough to keep them front as El Segundo was also cold from the field and managed to pump in just 6 points in three field goals.

The Jollibee cagers eventually broke out of their slump in the second stanza and lengthen their lead to double digits at the end of the first half, 36-23, after outscoring their opponents 26-17.

After being held to just 2 points in the opening quarter, Reyes finally broke into a rhythm and tormented the El Segundo defenders for 10 points in the second.

Jollibee’s lead would balloon in the third period as they continued to run on all cylinders. Fueled by a combined 18-point effort by Reyes, Bryan Lontoc, and R. Dulog, Jollibee went on add another 23 points to their corner.

El Segundo failed to keep up and was limited to 15 points. With that, the Pacific Gardenia restaurant cagers found themselves in a deep hole and trailed 38-59 going into the fourth.

Ariel Abadilla and Nestor De Vera tried to carry El Segundo back into contention with 10 points apiece in the closing minutes.

Their effort seemed to have been working as they closed the gap courtesy of Jollibee finally cooling off at the offensive end.

Despite their push, Abadilla, De Vera, and the rest of the El Segundo cast fell short as time expired with Jollibee still ahead by double digits.

Reyes finished with a game-high 24 points and also grabbed 9 rebounds and 2 steals while Dulog supported with 17 points to lead Jollibee.

De Vera and Abadilla led El Segundo with 22 and 19 points, while Ariel Drilon finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Jollibee 76—Reyes 22, Dulog 17, Sntos 9, Marcelo 7, Cruz 6, Manlapaz 4, Ajoste 2, Luna 2, Reolope 2, Isip 2, Yumul 1.

El Segundo 63—De Vera 22, Abadilla 19, Patricio 5, Cruz 5, Tenepere 4, Drilon 3, Mesina 2, Gillego 2.

Scoring by quarters: 10-6, 36-23, 59-38, 76-63.

Referees: Ricky Itaas and Arnold Mesa