Omiping, PNP foil AFP, near UNTV crown

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine National Police wrested control early, then leaned on Ollan Omiping’s clutch baskets to carve out an 84-80 decision over Armed Forces and move within a win of clinching the fourth UNTV Cup crown at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig last Sunday.

Omiping scored half of his 28 points in the last quarter as the PNP Responders scuttled the AFP Cavaliers’ repeated rallies in the opener of their best-of-three title series before a huge crowd.

PNP shoots for the championship in Game 2 on Monday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Meantime, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority wore down National Housing Authority, 77-74, in their battle for third in the event organized by UNTV president and CEO Daniel Razon.

The MMDA Blackwolves took the P1 million third prize with P800,000 going to its chosen charity while the remaining P200,000 will be shared by members of the team. NHA received P500,000 – P400,000 to the charity and P100,000 to the team members.

The champion team will win P4 million – P500,000 for the members of the team with the P3.5 million going to its chosen charity.

With Omiping and Harold Sta. Cruz on the firing end, the Responders took a 23-10 first quarter lead before padding it to 45-28 at halftime.

The Cavaliers rallied behind Boyet Bautista, cutting down PNP’s lead to 10 (62-52) at the end of the third quarter before Omiping, now a Police Officer III, took charge again and kept the Cavaliers at bay.