Mar Villahermosa and Terrence Romeo hit successive 3s in overtime as Big Chill completed a sweep of twice-to-beat Fruitas with an 89-83 victory in their sudden quarterfinal match on Thursday at the Blue Eagle Gym inside the Ateneo campus.

 

Their second straight win over the Shakers earned Superchargers a semi-final berth and join defending champion NLEX, Blackwater Sports, Boracay Rum. Big Chill defeated Fruitas, 77-72, on Tuesday to force the rubber match.

 

The Final Four starts Tuesday.

 

Big Chill rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit with a strong second quarter. The Superchargers outscored the Shakers, 62-43, in the last two quarters.

 

Mar Villahermosa capped Big Chill’s comeback with huge 3 just before the final buzzer to forced the extra session.

 

“I never thought we’ll gonna win this game until that Villahermosa made that 3. After that momentum was on our side,” offered Big Chill coach Robert Sison afterwards.

 

“Even when things looked bad, the guys never lost faith in the system. And Terrence (Romeo), in this game, learned how to share the ball. That’s a signs that he’s maturing.”

 

After Jonathan Semira gave Fruitas a 78-77 lead in overtime, the Superchargers responded by scoring the next seven points with Villahermosa ending the spurt with his third 3 of the night as Big Chill surged ahead to stay with 2:41 remaining.

 

Fruitas pulled within 81-84 on a free throw and a jumper by Semira but Romeo knocked another trey to seal the win.

 

Romeo and Jeckster Apinan each scored 20 points for Big Chill, which will face NLEX in the next round in a rematch of their championship showdown in this same conference last year. Apinan also had 14 rebounds to finish with a double-double for the second straight game.

 

The other best-of-three series pits Boracay Rum against Blackwater Sports.

 

It was a frustrating ending for the Shakers, who advanced to the quarterfinals with a twice to beat advantage.

 

They appeared to have the game in control when they outscored the Superchargers, 23-6, in the second quarter to take a 40-27 advantage at halftime.

 

But they experienced offensive meltdown in the second half and sputtered in the fourth quarter with the game on the line.

 

Pong Escobal scored 18 points and Roger Pogoy added 14 for Fruitas which shot 32 percent in the second half and 35.8 percent for the game. (Dave Coros)

 

The scores:

 

Big Chill 89 -- Romeo 20, Apinan 20, Lozada 16, Canlas 12, Villahermosa 9, Montilla 5, Bringas 4, Herula 3, Dumapig 0, Santos 0.

 

Fruitas 83 – Escobal 18, Pogoy 14, Cruz 12, Caram 8, Colina 8, Antonio 6, Mendoza 5, Lastimosa 5, Semira 4, Tolomia 2, Sentcheu 1.

 

Quarters: 14-13; 27-40; 55-63; 75-75; 89-83