Sherilin-Unisol Mandaue upends Consolacion to end semis with a bang
THE Sherilin-Unisol Mandaue Plastic Men capped off its semifinal stint with a resounding bang as it took down the Consolacion Sarok Weavers, 81-80, in the Pilipinas Super League 21-Under VisMin leg on Friday, Aug. 26, 2022, at the Cebu City Sports Institute.
The victory was a much-needed morale-booster for the team of head coach Gerald Ylaya and team owner, Richard Mercado, as they head to Game 1 of the Visayas finals on Sunday, Aug. 28, this very same Consolacion squad.
Though the match had no bearing, the two teams played like everything was on the line. Down by three, Consolacion tied the match at 78-all after a triple by Dave Paulo from the left wing with 28 seconds left.
However, Sherilin had an answer as Zylle Cabellon drove into the teeth of the defense before kicking it out to a wide open JZ Dizon who sank the go-ahead three-pointer with just 4.2 seconds to go in the game.
The Sarok Weavers had a shot at tying the game, but Rovello Robles missed a three-pointer while Paulo converted the putback as time expired.
Christopher Isabelo led Sherilin with 15 points, while Acer Go added 13 markers. Dizon finished with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Cabellon and Ramon Singson had 10 points each.
Meanwhile, in the Mindanao region, the Davao Occidental Dreamers entered the finals with a 79-77 victory over the Bukidnon Cowboys.
The three remaining Mindanao squads actually finished the semis with identical 1-1 records, but the Dreamers and Cowboys finished with better point differentials after officials tallied the results.
Needing a win to get a ticket to the finals, the Dreamers turned to Rainier Maga who delivered with a clutch layup that gave them a 79-77 lead with 3.5 seconds remaining. Coming off a timeout, Maga zipped past his defender and went all the way to the rim for an uncontested layup.
Bukidnon could have gotten the win but Renz Dacutanan’s three-pointer missed as the final buzzer sounded.
Lawrence Maga scored 15 points each for Davao Occidental.
Game 1 of the Visayas finals will be at 1 p.m. at the Cordova Sports Complex. This will be followed by the Mindanao finals at 3 p.m. /