Olivarez College and Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas made quick work of their semifinal foes to arrange a best-of-three finals showdown in the UCAL-PGFlex Linoleum 7th Season on Thursday at the Paco Arena in Manila.

The two squads, which finished 1-2 at the end of the two-phase elimination round, did not have to use their twice-to-beat armors with the Sea Lions surviving Diliman College, 63-60 and the Dolphins eliminating Immaculada Concepcion College, 79-70.

The victories didn’t come without a scare, however, with Olivarez needing a clutch performance from Hanz Maycong who saved his team some blushes and lifted them to their fifth finals appearance in their seventh season in UCAL.

Maycong finished with 16 points — none bigger than the jumper that put the Sea Lions ahead for good, 61-60, with a little over a minute left as well as the game-sealing free throws with seven seconds left.

Jhon Patrick Panelo actually topscored for Olivarez with 19 points while Rodel Renon had 13 points and Hakim Njiasse hauled down 18 rebounds to go with seven points.

PCU-D, on the other hand, needed a huge fourth quarter rally to shake off the hard-fighting ICC, unloading a pivotal 11-2 run that turned a slim 67-65 lead into a commanding 78-67 advantage with two minutes left in the contest.