GATEWAY 2007 and Kitrol 2003 forged a pivotal showdown for all the marbles in Division C as they hurdled their respective opponents in the PLDT SME Nation-Alfredo Gothong 21st SHAABAA Cup basketball tournament on Sunday at the Magis Eagles Arena inside the Ateneo de Cebu campus in Barangay Canduman, Mandaue City.
Gateway bucked a terrible start to author a 76-47 beatdown of Batch 2014. Gateway trailed, 6-21, after the first 10 minutes of action but quickly made up for it and dominated the next three periods, outscoring its opponents, 70-26, to seal the victory.
Raymund Ortiz scored 17 to lead Gateway while Aaron delos Reyes added 14. Arnold Go contributed 11.
Standing opposite them in the finals will be Kitrol, which came back from 10 points down in the fourth period to upend Prince Warehouse 2006, 54-49. Kitrol faced a 31-41 deficit at the start of the final frame but just went ballistic during that stretch and ended the game with a 23-8 rally.
Dennis Lanorias and Bibok Tuadles had 11 apiece to lead the way for Kitrol.
Meanwhile in Division B, Dynacast 2001 booked the last ticket to the semifinals as it booted out White Gold Club 1996, 60-50.
Sandeep Naidu, Elmer Lapitan and Michael Osmena each had 13 in a show of balanced force for Dynacast.
They will be joining AutoLAB 1999, Batch 1997 and Choobi Bay Crab and Shrimp 1991 in the Final Four of Division B.