The best of the north will take on the finest in the south as Pangasinan and Cebu’s University of San Jose Recolletos hurdled their respective semifinal rivals in gripping matches on Wednesday in the PSL National Finals at the Victoria Sports in Quezon City.
The Queen City of the South’s representative in the Born 2006 division outlasted Misamis Oriental, 71-66.
Jan Vince Oringo finished with 19 points and eight rebounds while Clark Candia contributed 14 points.
Pangasinan, on the other hand, banked on ex-Batang Gilas player Jeremy Godoy, who presided over when it mattered the most as he towed his team to a tense 76-74 victory over Manila-UST.
Cebu and Pangasinan clash in the Born 2006 finals on Thursday at 3 p.m. with the winner earning the right to represent the Philippine team in the PSL Global Championship Challenge, which unfurls on July 15 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Pangasinan’s victory proved climatic.
Godoy, took matters in his own hands and delivered that short floater in the last five seconds that put Pangasinan back on the driver’s seat, 75-74.
In the next play, Pangasinan clamped down on Manila-UST’s shooters, leaving big man Charles Esteban to receive the ball from beyond the arc.
Esteban let loose a triple that went airball and left Pangasinan with still two seconds to work with.
Manila was forced to give up a foul, sending Jairus Armendez to the line.
He split his charities, but left Manila only a second to work and with no more timeout left, could only come up with a desperation heave as time expired.
