Highly fancied Holy Cross of Davao College Crusaders and the Rizal Memorial Colleges Bulldogs advanced to the PCCL-Escandor Cup Final Four after beating separate foes in the quarterfinal round played at the Davao City Recreation Center.
The Crusaders punched a ticket to the semifinals of the premier regional collegiate hoopfest after Kenneth Yap drilled in the game-winning triple to eliminate hard-fighting Cor Jesu College of Digos City, 110-107.
Yap atoned for a traveling violation which would have sent the Cholo Elegino-coached Crusaders packing, by draining the dagger trey with 2.4 ticks left on the clock.
The tournament is organized by the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas (SBP) Davao Region under SBP board member and regional head Glenn Escandor.
The Bulldogs bundled out Ateneo de Davao University, 77-58 while University of Mindanao Wildcats finished off a stubborn Philippine Women’s College Patriots, 87-83, to take the third spot.
Rounding off the last of four squads standing are 2022 LYR Cup champion Jose Maria Colleges Kings who earned a trip to the semifinals with a 73-62 win over Agro Industrial Foundation College Sailors.
The semifinals is set on April 12 with the HCDC Crusaders taking on the UM Wildcats at 1 p.m. while the JMC Kings battle the RMC Bulldogs at 2:30 p.m. with the winners getting a winner-take-all Finals ticket.
