Gamba 97, Batch 2001 in ABA final

BOTH title-hungry, Gamba 97 and Batch 2001 will collide in the St. Peter Faber Cup final after surviving tough semifinal matches in the 8th XUHS-ABA Tournament on Friday at XUHS covered courts in Pueblo de Oro Township.

Jammers 2005 on the other hand advanced in St. Ignatius de Loyola Cup final after eliminating XUHS 2004 in the curtain raiser crossover round.

Gamba 97ers made their second final appearance after outlasting five-time ABA champion XUHS 1999 via 71-62 overtime win.

Without bull-strong Andrew Neri and PBA legend Bitoy Omolon, Niku Benson Valles stepped in to lead the 97ers as he finished 28 points, while red-hot Dexter Latosa pulled 18 markers.

Down by 10, Valles slammed the ball hard on the floor to wake his team up even as he was called for a warning by referee Sandy Sambaan.

The 97ers finally had the right rhythm as they made an 11-2 run and closed the gap by one.

XUHS 99 made a final stretch at five with 3:39 minutes left, 57-52, but the 99ers went cold from there.

Latosa, who was seven of 10 in the paints, and Kane Acedera saved Gamba 97ers and leveled the game, 57-all for overtime.

The five-time champion had a chance to pull a win when Marco Sabal fished a foul in the last 27 seconds and both teams in penalty, but he missed both freethrows.

From there, Batch 1999 froze in the extension as they only scored five and wasted a lot of charity throws while Gamba tallied 14 in winning the game.

Ryan Agapito, who like Sabal was dominating under the ring, was only one of six in the line during overtime.

It will also be XUHS 2001’s second time for a title shot after eliminating Batch 2000 via 70-68 tight win in the semifinal.

Both the 97ers and 2001 will go each other for their first ever titular duel.

Their clash in the final will also feature two Corpus Christian Alumni coaching the two teams.

Jaymar Rivera has been the court general for the 97ers, while Rey Dangcal has been silently giving plays for 2001.

In other semifinal matches, Jammers 05 advanced early in the final after defeating 2004, 50-47 and awaits the winner between 2002 ans 2007.

XUHS 2007 forced a rubber match against twiceto-beat 2002 after a 66-64 buzzer-beater win on Friday.