World of Fun survived the ejection of key player Warren Alintano to rally past Talisay City, 95-88, Friday night at the start of the single-round semifinals of the 8th Tan Kek Pin Cup Memorial Basketball Tournament at the Po Hang Gym.

Using a big opening-quarter spurt, Probac also closed in on a finals berth with a trouble-free 89-71 victory over Province of Negros Occidental.

WOF and Probac could arrange a finals duel with victories over Province and Talisay City tonight.

A Province and Talisay win could pave the way for do-or-die duels for the four teams on the last semifinal playdate.

Alintano was banished from the court in the third quarter for a scuffle with Wilfredo Legaspi, leaving WOF with only four players midway in the period under passarelle rules. It also did not help that WOF was staring at a double-digit deficit,

But Alintano's ejection only galvanized the Fil-Sino squad as it played a zone defense to narrow the gap, before roaring back to life in the final period.

WOF held Talisay scoreless in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter to turn a 64-73 deficit to a 78-73 lead on a 14-0 run capped by back-to-back triples from former St. La Salle star Robbie Jalando-on with 7:06 left.

Big men Arnold Laureno and Rodel Canino joined hands with Johnson Salazar to score the team's last 17 points that wrapped up WOF sixth win in the tournament.

Talisay, made up mostly of former Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod players, actually started strong with Nonoy Hugnatan providing the scoring punch early on for a 30-16 cushion. They led by 21 at one point in the second quarter, before WOF turned up the pressure in the second half.

Salazar finished with 21, while Canino and Laureno added 18 apiece.

Jomel Garrido paced Talisay with 16 points. Hugnatan and Christian Antiporda posted 14 apiece.

Probac opened the game with a 20-0 blast with Peewee Demonteverde scoring 15 points for a 41-21 lead at the end of the first period.

Except for Romil Defensor's hot fourth-quarter shooting, Probac was rarely troubled as Mark Sabusap, Mark Binguan and Ryan Concha also finished in double-figures.

Demonteverde registered 18 points to lead Probac, which posted a 77-46 advantage heading into the fourth period.

Defensor had 21 points, including 15 in the fourth period, while Rex Bayer and Marlon Talatala added 11 and 10, respectively.*CPT

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