Schedule: Jun 29, Thu (San Jose Gym) 5:00PM DepEd vs Executive, battle for third (inter-office); 6:30 Legal vs Justice, championship (inter-office).
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The Legal and Justice Officers survived grueling semifinal bouts to enter the finals while McDonalds ousted San Jose and stayed alive for a possible semifinals berth of the sixth season of the Laity Cup last Thursday, June 22 at the San Jose Gym, here.
The defending champions, Legal Officers, avoided becoming the latest victim of the upset-conscious Executive Mixers and hacked out a 73-67 victory to reenter the finals of the inter-office bracket for the second consecutive time. The Mixers won the inaugural event of this bracket.
The Legal Officers will defend their crown against the Justice Officers who had to thwart a spirited rally by the DepEd Mentors and prevailed, 83-82, in overtime to set their face-off for the title.
The Justice Officers played the Mentors to a very tight game and had the Mentors playing catch-up in the dying seconds of regulation. The Mentors came up to tghe challenge and converted a buzzer-beating trey to send the game to extra period.
The situation was reversed in overtime when Justice was down in the dying seconds and came up with a steal that was translated to a basket to win the game.
Meantime, McDonalds hacked out a 108-90 victory over San Jose to stay alive for a possible semis berth. They are tied for ninth to tenth place but are just one game behind the Don Bosco Boys and the Latter Day Saints and just 1.5 games behind sixth placer Immaculate Conception. They will draw the Alliance Wonders in their last game. The loss officially eliminates the Joseans from the Semifinals.
By: Armando M. Bolislis