Southern Tagalog-CALABARZON (Region IV-A) catches the final bus bound for the 65th Palarong Pambansa secondary boys basketball semifinals after outlasting a feisty SOCCSKSARGEN (Region XII) squad in the quarters, 67-62, on Thursday at the Centennial Arena in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte. 

The Region IV-A representatives encountered their first real test at the national meet in SOCCSKSARGEN, who kept in step with CALABARZON all first half-long, and even held a seven-point lead in the third quarter. 

Aidan Peña drained a three at the onset of the final frame to reclaim the advantage for CALABARZON, paving the road for an all-out skirmish where their height and might proved to be too much for the team from Mindanao. 

Southern Luzon’s towering troika of Jericho Abrantes, Andrei Ugaddan, and Martin Mejia exposed SOCCSKSARGEN to a world of problems in the paint, grabbing offensive boards and translating them to ‘and-one’ opportunities that kept the latter at bay. 

Before their tightly contested skirmish in the quarters, CALABARZON was wreaking havoc in the group stage. 

They went undefeated in Group D while averaging a 21-point winning margin in three games, taking down CARAGA, 90-64; Central Visayas, 83-71; and Cordillera Administrative Region, 77-51.

Bannered by the likes of NCAA juniors standouts Andrei Ugaddan (San Beda Red Cubs) and Cleafford Dag-um (LPU Junior Pirates), CALABARZON’s entry to the semifinals gives them a chance at redemption after falling short of a podium finish at last year’s Palaro. 

They will go head to head against Western Visayas in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, and will possibly face the winner between Davao and Central Luzon in the other semis bracket.