Olivarez College took the first semifinal berth in the UCAL-PGFlex Linoleum 7th Season with an 87-83 win over Immaculada Concepcion College in the battle of frontrunners on Saturday at the Paco Arena in Manila.

In a duel of spurts, it was Olivarez College that proved mightier and steadier, coming through with a solid defensive effort in the dying moments to end a two-game slide, giving the Sealions the solo lead at 9-3.

The loss dropped ICC to a share of second to fourth places with Philippine Christian University-Dasmarinas and Manila Central University at 8-4.

The MCU Supremos beat the Lyceum of the Philippines University-Batangas, 77-70, in the second game.

For a while, the Sealions, who beat the Bluehawks, 92-75, in the first phase of eliminations, appeared headed to another runaway win when they erected 75-59 advantage through the hot shooting of Rodel Renon and Jhon Pateno plus the aggressive inside plays of the towering Hakim Njiasse.

But the Bluehawks, starring AJ Flores and Jared Loi Vento, stormed back into the contest with a searing run of their own, cutting Olivarez’s lead down to three, 86-83 with four seconds left.

But Lorenzo Dimayuga calmly hit his first free throw before deliberately missing his second to seal the deal, becoming the first team in the 10-school tournament to advance to the semis.

Renon finished with 29 points spiked by two triples, and completed another double-double showing with 11 boards apart from posting four assists. Panelo and Njiasse added 16 and 14 points, respectively.

Three teams are not far behind with reigning titlist Centro Escolar University, Diliman College and University of Batangas all toting similar 7-5 cards.