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| Sedrick Barefield continues his explosion in Davao City. Madayaw Sports Davao |
MANILA--Blackwater nears a sweep of the Kadayawan Invitational Basketball Tournament after nipping Converge, 93-91, in the final night of the round robin phase on Saturday at the USEP Gym in Davao City.
The Bossing heaved a sigh of relief in the end as Alec Stockton misfired a stepback three that could have given the FiberXers, needing to win to keep their hopes of making the final alive, the lead.
RK Ilagan grabbed the rebound, setting up two free throws from Sedrick Barefield to ice the game for Blackwater.
Barefield finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, one assist, and one steal for the Bossing, who swept the preliminary round at 3-0.
Standing in their way of completing the perfection of the PBA preseason event are the NLEX Road Warriors, who clinched the other seat in the Sunday night final with a 100-96 win against the Phoenix Fuel Masters.
Like Blackwater, NLEX also needed to hold on to their seats in crunch time as Ricci Rivero delivered an anklebreaker on Jonnel Policarpio to set up a wide-open three with Phoenix down three, 96-99.
Rivero, though, missed the potential game-tying shot, and Xyrus Torres iced the game with a split from the line with exactly a second left.
Robert Bolick led the Road Warriors with 27 points, two rebounds, four assists, and two steals.
Converge and Phoenix will play first at 5 p.m. Sunday in the battle for third before Blackwater and NLEX clash anew at 7:30 p.m. in the championship game of the annual event as part of Davao City's Kadayawan Festival.
