TL Playoff Facts and Figures
   by Henry Liao for philippinebasketball.ph (02/09/2011)

Xavier School is looking for an 11th straight trip to the Juniors Division Finals to equal the all-time Tiong Lian record for the most consecutive championship-series appearances established by Chiang Kai Shek College from 1985 to 1995.

St. Jude Catholic School rejoined the Tiong Lian in 2006. Since the time, it has lost 11 straight games (1-2006, 1-2007, 1-2008, 3-2009, 3-2010, 2-2011) to Xavier School.

Xavier School and St. Jude Catholic School have met in the playoffs in each of the last three years. The two teams faced each other in the 2009 and 2010 Finals, with Xavier School winning both times with 2-0 sweeps.

Chiang Kai Shek College last reached the Finals in 2008 when it dropped a 2-1 decision to Xavier in the best-of-three title series.

Chiang Kai Shek College has the most number of championships in Tiong Lian history with 14. Xavier is second with nine.

Of the four head coaches in the Final Four playoffs, only Chiang Kai Shek College’s Joel Yap has yet to win a title. St. Jude Catholic School’s Goldwin Monteverde earned a pair of championships with Kish Co and St. Stephen’s High School in 2004 and 2005 (beating Xavier School each time). Hope Christian High School’s Stevenson Tiu also won two titles with his alma mater in 1983 and 1993. Xavier School’s Jonathan (Budds) Reyes steered Xavier School to the 2010 championship.

Hope Christian HS head coach Stevenson Tiu was the star player on the 1981 Hope Christian HS championship unit that beat Chiang Kai Shek College for the crown, once scoring 49 points in a game.

Hope Christian HS last reached the Finals in 1993 when the school defeated Chiang Kai Shek College for the title.

Only Chiang Kai Shek College and Xavier School have captured three consecutive championships in the Juniors Division since the Tiong Lian’s inception in 1970. CKSC accomplished the feat twice – from 1978 to 1980 and from 1990 to 1992. Xavier School turned in the trick from 2001 to 2003 and from 2008 to 2010.

In Tiong Lian history, only six times has one school captured titles in the Aspirants Division and Juniors Division during the same season. Chiang Kai Shek College first did it in 1991 and Xavier School duplicated the feat in 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

*ERRATUM - Joel Yap, indeed won Tiong Lian Championships with CKSC in 1994 and 1995. Apology from Henry Liao to Mr. Joel Yap.

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