DEFENDING champion Stream Ingenyouity and former champions Teletech Titans completed a stunning turnaround as they disposed separate foes to forge a best-of-three showdown for the overall crown in the 2012 Sun Cellular E-League for Basketball at the City Sports Club-Cebu.
Stream won the northern conference crown last Sunday by posting a close 54-51 win over the Aegis Vipers, while the Titans copped the southern conference tiara with a 71-60 dismantling of the Sykes Pioneers.
It was a frustrating finish for Sykes and Aegis, which looked headed to a major collision after they won the series openers of their respective series.
Stream and Teletech bucked eliminations, sending the two series into do-or-die affairs with separate wins in the next game before completing their comebacks with contrasting outings in Game 3.
The Titans dictated the tempo of the contest by closing the first period with a 23-17 run then increased their lead to 11 points at the half, 38-27.
Sykes showed signs of life in the third where it staged a 20-13 run only to be thwarted by Teletech, which ended the game with a 20-13 assault.
Stream, on the other hand, kept its title-retention bid alive by bucking a horrendous first half, where it scored just 22 points while allowing its opponent to score 37.
Aegis suffered a monumental collapse in the second half, where it struggled in offense, scoring just five points in the third and could only muster nine markers in the payoff period./EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA