THE DEFENDING champions RDAK Transporters and the Dynamic Power took a step closer towards forging a championship showdown after they destroyed their respective opponents at the start of the best-of-three semifinals series in Division B of the 20th Sacred Heart Ateneo Alumni Basketball Athletic Association (SHAABAA) Cup on Wednesday at the Ateneo de Cebu basketball courts along Mango Avenue.
The Transporters leaned on an explosive fourth period performance to pull away from AutoLAB, 40-31, while Dynamic Power wasted no time in asserting themselves over Caltex Delo to score a huge 61-36 win.
RDAK and Dynamic Power now lead their respective series, 1-0, pulling themselves a win away from making it to the championship round.
After three periods, AutoLAB was ahead by a candlestick, 24-23, over the Transporters in a fiery match-up between two teams who were unwilling to give the other wiggle room.
But RDAK’s vaunted offense finally broke free in the final 10 minutes of action where it outscored AutoLAB, 17-7.
Ian Ong and John Paul Cabrera led the Transporters with 10 points each.
In the other semis game, Dynamic Power zoomed off to a 19-4 advantage after the first canto, which proved to be enough to suppress Caltex Delo and pave the way towards the series-opening win.
Lithe forward Chad Go led Dynamic Power in scoring with 16, Roderick Mangubat chipped in 14 while Theogene Lim contributed 12 in a massive show of force by the second seed.