CKSC,SJCS Reach TL Semis
by Henry Liao for philippinebasketball.ph (02/08/2012)

GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION
Uno High School Gym
Feb. 6, 2012
Game Result/Semifinal Playoffs:
No. 2 St. Jude Catholic School 69 ? No. 3 Uno High School 61 (rubber match)

Game Schedule/Best-of-three Finals ? No. 1 seed Chiang Kai Shek College vs. No. 2 seed St. Jude Catholic School: Feb. 11 (Sat, 2 p.m.) - Game One; Feb. 13 (Mon, 5:30 p.m.) ? Game Two; and Feb. 16 (Thu, 5:30 p.m.) ? Game Three, if necessary. Note: St. Jude Catholic School is the defending champion.

ASPIRANTS DIVISION
Venue: Chiang Kai Shek College Gym

Games Schedule/Best-of-three Finals ? No. 1 seed Chiang Kai Shek College vs. No. 2 seed Xavier School: Feb. 11 (Sat) ? Game One Finals (9:30 a.m.); Feb. 13 (Mon) ? Game Two Finals (5:30 p.m.); and Feb. 15 (Wed) ? Game Three Finals (5:30 p.m.), if necessary. Note: Xavier School is the nine-time defending champion.

JUNIORS DIVISION
Day 11, Uno HS Gym
Feb. 7, 2012

Hope Christian High School (6-0) automatically qualifies for the semifinal playoffs armed with a twice-to-beat advantage over its opponent (the winner of the quarterfinal series between No. 4 St. Jude Catholic School and No. 5 Uno High School).

The quarterfinal playoff matchups are: No. 2 Xavier School vs. No. 7 Grace Christian College, No. 3 Chiang Kai Shek College vs. No. 6 St. Stephen?s High School and No. 4 St. Jude Catholic School vs. No. 5 Uno High School. Nos. 2, 3 and 4 own a twice-to-beat advantage over their respective opponents.

Games Schedule/Quarterfinal Playoffs ? Feb. 10 (Fri) ? No. 2 Xavier School vs. No. 7 Grace Christian College (5:30 p.m.) and XXXXX vs. XXXXX, if necessary (7 p.m.); and Feb. 11 (Sat) ? XXXXX vs. XXXXX, if necessary (5:30 p.m.) and XXXXX vs. XXXXX, if necessary (7 p.m.).

ST. JUDE CATHOLIC SCHOOL 67 ? UNO HIGH SCHOOL 53
Notes: And then there were six teams left. St. Jude Catholic School scored a hard-earned 67-53 victory over Uno HS to reach the semifinals against No. 1 seed Hope Christian HS ?
The first half was sloppily played offensively. SJCS took the first quarter, 8-7, for the lowest combined first-quarter score (15 points) this season. The first half ended at 26-23, in the Judenites? favor. Jason Ligad had a dozen points for SJCS. The combined 49 points were the third lowest first-half score this season. Hope Christian HS (32) and Grace Christian College (13) combined for 45 first-half points in their elims game. Uno HS (32) and SSHS (15) combined for 47 points in the first half of their elims game ?
Uno High School, looking for an upset, bolted for a 37-34 lead behind Philipp Licaros? twinner, the Uneans? largest lead in the game. However, coach Milton Yu?s troops were mesmerized by the sudden full-court pressure employed by St. Jude CS, which detonated a 19-5 bomb, including an 8-0 blast (from 34-37 to 42-37) at one point, to take a 53-42 advantage at the end of the third quarter ?
Uno?s Ryan Lim opened the fourth quarter with a basket to trim his team?s deficit to just nine points, 53-44. It turned out to be the closest the Uneans were within of SJCS, which led by as much as 16 points in the final minutes (63-47 and 67-51) ?
Ligard topscored for SJCS with 26 points (on 10-for-29 FG shooting) and collected six points, three assists and two steals in 28 minutes. Sophomore center Francis Go contributed 13 markers and 15 boards for a double-double. Joel Chang, who took six of the Judenites? first nine attempts in the game and connected on of them ? a three-pointer ? to give his team a 3-0 lead, wound up with 13 points and seven rebounds ?
Licaros, playing in his final Tiong Lian game, led Uno HS with 16 points. Charles Chong added 11 points and Lim contributed six scores and 12 reebies for the losing team.

CHIANG KAI SHEK COLLEGE 70 ? ST. STEPHEN?S HIGH SCHOOL 50
Notes: And then there were five teams left. No. 3 seed Chiang Kai Shek College frolicked from start to finish in crusing to an easy 70-50 victory over No. 6 seed St. Stephen?s HS ?
In the semis, the Blue Dragons will take on the winner of the quarterfinal series between No. 2 and four-time defending champion Xavier School and No. 7 seed and winless Grace Christian College, which will be played on Friday (Feb. 10). The Golden Stallions need just a win against the host school to arrange a semifinal showdown with CKSC. XS, too, will have a twice-to-beat advantage over CKSC if it survives past GCC ?
CKSC got off to a quick start vs. SSHS, scoring the game?s first seven points and taking the first quarter, 18-9. CKSC took the first half, 40-16, as it limited SSHS to the third-lowest first-half score by one team this season. Grace Christian College scored only 13 first-half points in its elims encounter with Hope Christian HS. SSHS tallied a measly 15 points in the first half of a 57-45 loss to Uno HS during the elims ?
The Blue Dragons were up, 62-34, after three quarters and were ahead by at least 20 points throughout the second half. Their biggest lead was 31 points, 65-34 ?
As if it were any consolation, SSHS outscored CKSC, 16-8, in the final 10 minutes as Blue Dragons coach Goldwin Monteverde opted to rest his regulars ?
Carlo Young, who scored the game?s first five points, finished with 12 points to lead CKSC. John Kevin Baytan had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds and John Nieles and Kimlee Bayquin each scored nine for the winners. Nieles also had five boards, seven assists and three steals for the 14-time TL Juniors titlists ?
Pint-sized but gutsy Kevin Ng notched a team-best 19 points for the SSHS, which also got 10 markers and six reebies from Matthan Yu. Ralph Tan grabbed 10 rebounds and Adrian Te had nine boards for the Stephenians.