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LBT grabs semis berth from Armatech
LBT Appraisal owns the second automatic semis berth in the Masters division of the 2015 United Filipino Organization Basketball League.
LBT Appraisal’s Jun Alipio looks for a teammate to pass the ball to as he is cornered by Blue Haus’ Junar Guiab during their regular season game in the Masters division of the UFO caging this month at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
League organizers made the clarification a day after announcing that Armatech won the outright semis ticket to join regular season champion Blue Haus in the semifinals. Armatech routed Old’ Aces, 80-58, last Wednesday in the final regular season game to finish the round-robin contest with a 3-2 record.
Armatech went on to force a three-way tie for second place with LBT Appraisal and Auto Motion behind the unbeaten Blue Haus (5-0) and UFO’s Bong Malasarte, in a telephone interview with Saipan Tribune last Thursday, said Armatech won the tiebreak.
However, organizers reviewed the game results of the three tied teams last Friday and changed the earlier decision, giving the No. 2 spot to LBT Appraisal, which also took the second and last automatic semis ticket. The Top 2 finishers in the regular season received free semis passes, while the bottom four will battle for the two remaining Final Four slots.
LBT Appraisal prevailed in the three-team logjam after earning 14 points when its winning margin against Armatech was subtracted to its losing margin to Auto Motion. LBT won by 16 markers against Armatech, 80-64, and lost by only 2 versus Auto Motion, 105-107.
Armatech ended up in third place with 13 points. It recorded a 27-point winning margin against Auto Motion, 95-68. Auto Motion dropped to fourth place with its -25 points.
With Armatech and Auto Motion losing in the tiebreak, they have to beat Graphics/Star 6 and Old’Aces this Wednesday and Friday, respectively, to march into the semifinals. In the Final Four, there will be no seeding, as draws will be held to determine the semis pairings, which will be No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 against No. 3.
Meanwhile, in the U20 division, third-ranked Blue Haus will take on the fourth-seeded Ol’Aces this Wednesday at 8pm in a battle for the third semis berth. Winner of the lone U20 match will join the unbeaten Sonics and Armatech in the semis, while the loser will meet Gilas this Friday for the last Final Four seat. The U20 division will follow the same format of the Masters category in the semifinals.
