GENERAL SANTOS CITY—The MP Warriors of GenSan avoided complications and booked a championship appearance by smashing Cebu Landmasters RDAK, 90-70, at the close of preliminary play of the SMC Liga Pilipinas Conference V General Santos City Leg at the GMP Sports Complex Friday.
The Warriors of Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao will play Mandaue again for the weekly title.
Down by eight points at the half, the Warriors, behind guard Louie Medalla, unleashed a crushing 17-0 run, highlighted by torrid outside shooting that turned the game in their favor for good.
The Warriors outscored Mandaue in the second half, 60-32, to raise their win-loss slate to 2-1, the same card of their victims.
Medalla finished with a conference-best 29 points spiked with five triples. Jonathan Parreno added three more triples en route to 11 points as the Warriors of Coach Arvin Bonleon made a total of 12 out of 27 from beyond the arc.
The Landmasters of Joe Soberano, Rick King and coach Jun Tan have already won legs in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue this conference.
This marks only the second time that the Warriors will vie for a weekly championship since losing to the Quezon Red Oilers, 71-82, in the Taguig City leg of Conference II in 2009.
In the first game, the Ilocos Sur CS Tigers of Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson and coach Johnedel Cardel trounced the Laguna Golden Lions, 76-67.
Chito Jaime clicked at the right time with 23 points and six rebounds for the CS Tigers, who wound up at 1-2 in a tie with the Golden Lions.
Jeff Sanders and Raymond Aguilar supported Jaime with nine markers each and a combined 13 boards.
Robert Sanz paced the Golden Lions of Gov. ER Ejercito and coach Philip Cezar with 16 points and nine rebounds followed by Bryan Faundo with 13 points and 16 rebounds.