Scary win brings Shirley’s to finals

Shirley’s Coffee Shop’s Fradel Sedillo pulls up for a shot against POI’s Ramsa Tenepere during the third quarter of their semis game in the Tan Holdings caging last Saturday at the Gillette Multipurpose Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Fradel Sedillo prevented POI from pulling the rug under Shirley’s, as he canned the winning basket, a buzzer-beating 10-foot jumper from the left baseline. The dagger came after Sedillo missed a go-ahead bucket earlier from relatively the same spot, allowing POI to steal the lead, 91-89, as Jason Palacios converted a fastbreak layup on the other end against Shawn Rabasto, 36.2 seconds left in the match.

Now down after controlling the knockout game right from the get-go and leading by as much as 17 points, Shirley’s pushed the ball quickly and muffed its first attempt to tie the match, as Ariel Drillon overshot a point-blank attempt. Fortunately for Shirley’s, Rommel Usi got the offensive rebound and brought the ball out before feeding a cutting Rabasto, who nailed the equalizer, 17 seconds remaining in the game.

After the deadlock, POI opted not to call a time out and paid the price on its gamble, as Ferdie Arago was forced to go for a one-on-one play, pulled up for a long jumper from the right key, and was partially blocked by Erick Dela Rosa. The ball landed on Jess Nicdao’s hands after Shirley’s big defensive stop and Arago elected to give up a foul on the former to stop the clock, which read at 5.4 seconds.

Shirley’s went on to use its last time out to map out a play and executed it to escape with the 2-point win. The winning play started with Usi making the inbound and passing the ball to Rabasto at the top key and the latter drove to the middle and seemed headed for a pull-up jumper. However, Rabasto decided to make an extra pass to Sedillo, who was temporarily left open at the left baseline and went for a quick release, as he saw a POI player switching back on defense toward him. Sedillo’s shot hit nothing but the bottom of the net, foiling POI’s upset bid.

POI put on a gallant stand as it came back from a 10-27 deficit in the first quarter and managed to force a standoff for the first time, 87-all, after J.P. Villanueva made back-to-back fastbreak layups, 1:22 left in the game. A putback shot from Sedillo helped Shirley’s regain the lead, 89-87, with under a minute left on the clock, but POI tied the match anew as Palacios was fouled in the ensuing play and went 2-for-2.

Sedillo tried to reclaim the lead, but his left baseline jumper rattled off the rim, paving the way for Palacios’ fastbreak layup and putting POI on top. POI’s hold on the lead did not last long as Rabasto nailed a shot on Shirley’s second serving for only the third deadlock in the game and the top-ranked squad went on to save the win behind Sedillo’s buzzer-beater.

Shirley’s remained unbeaten in the league in 11 games (10 in the regular season) and it hopes to keep it that way when it guns for the championship this Saturday against the winner of the Fiesta Resort-Kanoa Resort semis tiff. Kanoa and Fiesta’s Final Four showdown will be reset, as there was a miscommunication in the scheduling of the game that was supposed to be played at 4pm last Saturday.

Dela Rosa top-scored in Shirley’s close win with his 37 points, while Sedillo also had a 30-plus output with his 34. Dela Rosa and Sedillo alternately led Shirley’s offense in the first half with the former capitalizing on his height advantage to cherry pick in the paint and the former converting several fastbreak layups and short jumpers.

Rabasto added 9 points for Shirley’s despite missing the entire first half and hit rally halting baskets in the second half. Villanueva paced POI with his 31 markers, while Palacios and Arago chipped in 20 and 16, respectively.

Shirley’s 93 – Dela Rosa 37, Sedillo 34, Rabasto 9, Jugos 8, Laxa 2, Drillon 2.

POI 91 – Villanueva 31, Palacios 20, Arago 16, Floresca 7, Kim 2.

Scoring by quarters: 27-10, 51-34, 71-66, 93-91.