Knights continue winning streak, sweep Alpha in semis series

Team Knights continued their undefeated streak as they swept their APCRAA Basketball Tournament (ABT) Season 5 men’s division best-of-three semifinals series against Team Alpha, 79-78 on Saturday, September 21 at the Asia Pacific College Gymnasium.

This will be Team Knights’ second straight finals appearance and their seventh straight win this season. They will be facing the winner of the Cookies & Team – Richmond Oilers tussle in Game 3 of their own semifinal series on September 28.

A followup basket by Mark Rivera from a missed perimeter shot by Jhonel de Luna gave the Knights a one-point lead with 22 seconds left in the ballgame. In the ensuing play, Jess Carrillo missed a potential game winning basket and a rebound scramble for the loose ball ensued. De Luna secured the ball and threw it to Nonoy Sonbise, who wasn’t able to make a shot as the final buzzer sounded.

Sonbise scored 24 points for the Knights while Rivera had a double-double game of 19 points and 14 rebounds.

Jap Puente led Alpha in scoring with 25 points while Alex Tagle finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Tagle also became the eight player in ABT history to score 500 points in his career.

Game 1 of the best-of-three finals series will begin on October 5.

THE SCORES:

ALPHA (78): Puente 25, Masa 13, Tagle 12, Magsalos 12, Carrillo 12, Perez 2, Lim 2, Pega 0

KNIGHTS (79): Sonbise 25, Rivera 19, De Luna 16, Cerrado 7, Hermo JL 5, Olores 2, Banua D 2, Dionisio 2, Brioso 1, Hermo JC 0, Banua M 0

QUARTERSCORES: 17-19, 36-42, 57-61, 78-79

REFEREES: N. Basilio, B. Castillo, V. Rancho

FIBA LiveStats: https://www.fibalivestats.com/u/APC/1344594