Pre-tournament picks Talisay Basketball Athletic Club and Magnolia Nutri-oil clinched the first two semifinal seats in the 6th Tan Kek Pin Memorial Cup Basketball Tournament, after posting lopsided victories over the weekend at the Po Hang Gym of Bacolod Tay Tung High School.

With Nonoy Hugnatan and Bryan Alunan holding the fort, TBAC erected a 31-13 cushion in the first 10 minutes en route to a resounding 100-86 win over Buddy's Friday night, while Magnolia welcomed 2005 MVP Warren Alintano into the line-up with an impressive 96-73 triumph over Summit AMG Pawnshop. Joining TBAC and Magnolia in the semis are tournament darkhorse BBC, which needed a big third quarter to eliminate last year's losing finalist Mambukal Summer Resort, 109-90, Saturday night.

But top-ranked New ST Marketing rammed into an inspired Probac team, losing a tough 89-87 cliffhanger in overtime. Probac's win arranged do-or-die duel for the last final four berth with the winner facing BBC at 7:45 tonight at the start of the round-robin semis.

TBAC and Magnolia collide in the first game at 6:30 p.m. also at the Po Hang Gym. The Top Two teams after the round robin semis will play for the title.

Hugnatan, brother of PBA star Reynel, scored 13 points to lead Talisay's win, while Caduhada and Edgar Junto contributed 12 and 10, respectively. Their outputs offset what could have been another dominating performance from Tommy Andren, who finished with 25 points for Probac.

Joebert Pastias stepped up for BBC in the third quarter, posting 11 points but what hurt most for Mambukal was that three more players scored 8 more points or more to key the breakaway.

Pastias ended up with 18 points, while Robert Buñol, Nomer Virgo and Roberto Duran combined for 36 more for the West Negros College-based team, which appeared sharp and in tip-top shape all game long.

Alain Baer paced Mambukal with 24 points but only Rex Bayer and Andy Angudong came up with able support, chipping in 18 and 14, respectively.

The stifling man-to-man defense of Magnolia in the second and third periods took Summit AMG out of its rhythm, while Mark Descutido and Mong Deriada punctured the hoops for a 72-52 lead heading into the final period.

Summit actually took the initiative early on with Jessimar Gabihan scoring 16 of his 26 points in the first quarter but Magnolia, buoyed by the comeback of Alintano after a two-game absence came out stronger in the later periods to seal the win.

Jojo San Miguel led Magnolia with 16 points, while Descutido added 11. Alintano and Deriada picked up 10 points each. Salvador Bonza also scored 20 points for Summit.

Probac led, 71-64, but Mark Binguan responded with seven straight points in a 15-second stretch to knot the count at 71-all. Mark Sabusap forced overtime by nailing two free throws with 15 seconds left, after Probac took a 73-71 lead.

It was Popoy Jamero who made the biggest basket in overtime, following up a missed shot with 10 seconds left that gave Probac an 88-87 lead. Kirk Tupas sealed the win by splitting his free throws. After Eric Uy hit a triple for an 86-81 Probac advantage, Pewee Demonteverde and Mark Sabusap scored on three-point plays to give New ST a ray of hope, before Jamero's heroics.

Uy spearheaded the scoring for Probac with 17, while Tupas finished with 15. Ryan Javellana added 12 and Jamero contributed 11. Demonteverde and Sabusap finished with 24 and 13 points, respectively. *CPT

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