Contenders Surangel Stars and the Ilocandia Bulls secured their way into the semifinals after beating separate rivals, Sunday in the play off round of the Filipino Basketball League (FBL) at the Palau National gym.

Surangel Stars stood their ground as they managed to beat a hard fighting Royal Cargo Rangers, 80-76. The Stars had control of the tempo of the game after leading 18-13 in the first quarter.

With the score at 61-56, the Rangers tried to stage a comeback in the final canto as they were able to outscore the Stars with a 28-14 output. But it was not enough as they committed crucial turnovers in the dying seconds of the game giving the win to the Stars.

Arnold Undecimo finished the game with 19 points as teammates Ronald Magcalas and Rex de Asis normed 18 and 17 markers, respectively.

On the other hand, Jay Naguit led all scorers for the Rangers with 24 as brother Joemar nailed 10 baskets while Nico Hinoza, who was able to play after nursing an injury, posted 12 points on the losing end.

Meanwhile, the Ilocandia Bulls proved too much as they beat the Aloha Maid Choppers, 100-87. As the Choppers managed to tighten up their defense against Marvic Ngchar, the Bulls’ turned to Ryan Cacho and Edward Baysa for fire power.

Baysa and Cacho caught fire as they finished the game with 25 and 22 points, respectively while teammates Joeger Supnet and Ngchar finishing with 18 and 14, in that order.

The Choppers lost their aggressiveness in the game and went out of sync as Arvin Pramo tallied 24 while Jojo Servantes chipped in 23 on the losing end.

With the wins, the Stars and the Bulls move on to the semifinal round in Division A. The Stars will take on Western Union while the Bulls will meet the FR Spoilers.

In other games, the Hanpa Cardinals drubbed the PNQ Crushers, 119-71 while the Jaguars defeated the PECI Spartans, 78-73.

With the wins both the Cardinals and the Jaguars will also move on to the semifinals in the Division B. The Cardinals will face the Liquid Skyy Dragons as the Jaguars will test the Rams.

Winners in the semifinal round will move on to the Division finals while the losers will battle for third place honors.

The Filipino Basketball League (FBL) is under the supervision of the Palau Basketball Federation (PBF). By Peter Erick L. Magbanua (Island Times News)