DEFENDING champion Teleperformance (TP) secured an outright finals berth after routing Offsourcing Philippines (OS), 50-39, in the semifinals of the Davao Brotherhood Sports (DBS)-organized Davao Inter-BPO League (DIBL) Invitational Basketball Tournament held at the Montaña Recreation and Fitness Center along Dacudao Avenue in Agdao, Davao City, on Sunday afternoon, July 2.
TP played sans bigman Levi Ochate who suffered an ankle injury but Edilito Cañedo, Jr. stepped up, sinking 13 points on top of seven rebounds and four assists.
The 2016 most valuable player (MVP) Lou Gracilla also lived up to his billing as he added 11 points to help lift the Peter Epe-coached TP inch closer to its three-peat mission.
Epe, in a phone interview with VoxPop Davao, cited his players stuck to the game plan.
"Nagbunga lang din ang pagsisikap namin sa bawat practice. Umabot kami sa finals kasi sumusunod din sila sa sistema ko," Epe added.
The veteran coach, however, said they will be able to pull it off in the finals as long as the team will cooperate.
"Ayaw ko muna magbitaw ng salita pero sisikapin lang naming ipanalo," Epe said when facing VXI Robinsons in the finals set on Sunday at the same venue.
VXI Robinsons arranged a titular showdown with TP by escaping past VXI SM, 53-51, behind the exceptional services of Jayson Luciano who scored 10 points, grabbed five rebounds and three steals and issued four assists.