AND THEN there were two.
The Teleperformance All-Stars and the Convergys Converters will contend for the Elite Classic crown of the 11th City Sports Club-Cebu (CSC-C) E-League for Basketball after they completed a clean sweep of their respective semifinal opponents last Sunday at the CSC-C Gym.
The All-Stars earned a return trip to the finals with an 83-77 win over the Accenture Sharks, while the Converters got a chance to end a long title drought when they disposed of the Lexmark Stallions, 71-68.
Teleperformance and Convergys both wrapped up their separate best-of-three series, 2-0, and will face each other in another race-to-two duel for the crown.
Duplicating their 85-81 Game 1 victory, the All-Stars drew solid performances from Dean Junber Escalon, Karlo Rafael Miñoza and Rodulfo Enterina III as the trio combined for 51 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and six steals.
Gamaliel Bas also provided the All-Stars with a huge lift as he contributed 13 rebounds, four steals, two points, two blocked shots and an assist.
Going down the drain was the superb game of Accenture’s Archie Brian Vincent Batua, who piled up 28 points, 13 rebounds and three assists.
Marlon Gonzales came up with his own double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds, while Ildefonso Bulangis Jr. and Julian Kyle Suerte pitched in 12 markers apiece for the Sharks.
The Converters, on the other hand, followed up their 60-43 Game 1 blowout win with another stellar showing, never looking back after ending the first half with 43-27 lead.
Franz Dionne Dysam led five Converters in double figures with 19 points. Lourenz Limpangog and Sherwin Resilla each had 12 points with the latter also adding 16 rebounds, four steals, four blocks and three assists.
Angelo Lucero and Kenneth Dysam pitched in 11 markers each.
Sylvester Millevo led the way for the Stallions with 27 markers. Franco Angelo Cipriano was the only other Stallion in twin digits 10 markers.
The towering Cipriano also had 19 boards, four blocks and a steal but the Stallions stumbled after promising start to the season that saw them winning their first nine games.