CKSC Beats XS,Forces Rubber Match
by Henry Liao for philippinebasketball.ph (02/14/2012)

JUNIORS DIVISION
SEMIFINAL PLAYOFFS
Day 13, Uno HS Gym
Feb. 13, 2012

Game Results:
No. 3 Chiang Kai Shek College 83 ? No. 2 Xavier School 76
No. 1 Hope Christian High School 89 ? No. 4 St. Jude Catholic School 64

Note: Hope Christian High School advances to the Finals for the second consecutive year. With the victory, Chiang Kai Shek College forces a rubber match against Xavier School in the semifinals on Feb. 15 (Wed, 5:30 p.m.) at the Uno HS Gym. Xavier School is the four-time defending champion.

Games Schedule/Best-of-three Finals (all games at the Uno HS Gym): Feb. 20 (Mon, 6 p.m.) ? Game 1, HCHS vs. XS-CKSC semifinal winner; Feb. 23 (Thu, 6 p.m.) ? Game 2, HCHS vs. XS-CKSC semifinal winner; and Feb. 25 (Sat, 6 p.m.) ? Game 3, if necessary, HCHS vs. XS-CKSC semifinal winner.

CHIANG KAI SHEK COLLEGE 83 ? XAVIER SCHOOL 76
Notes: There were six deadlocks and 16 lead changes in the hotly-contested game ?
Trailing 10-7 following a three by CKSC?s Joshua Tan, Xavier School went on a 9-0 run to take a 16-10 lead, the six-point advantage being the Golden Stallions? largest in the contest ?
Then the Blue Dragons answered back with seven consecutive points (five by Carlo Young and a pair of free throws by John Kevin Baytan) to gain the upperhand, 17-16. Xavier took the first half, 23-19, and was ahead, 41-38, at halftime as Teng (14), Jarrell Lim (11) and Kyles Lao (9) combined for 34 points. Baytan had 14 points for CKSC at the break ?
The Gold and Blue were still ahead, 45-40, when Baytan made a twinner and Young went 3-for-3 from the foul line to equalize the count at 45-all. The two teams were again dead-even at 47-all, 51-all and 53-all. XS last led, 57-56, with 2:07 remaining in the third quarter on a three-point play by Lao before CKSC started to pull away, going on a 7-0 run, including successive treys by John Paul Nieles and Young, to enjoy a 63-57 advantage after three quarters ?
XS trimmed its deficit to four points, 65-61 when Teng was whistled his fourth foul with 7:55 remaining. With Teng on the bench, Kimlee Bayquin and Tan combined for seven straight points to put CKSC ahead by double digits, 72-61, time down to 5:55 ?
Paolo Cabero, who like Teng was plagued by foul problems, broke a prolonged XS silence with a jumper, 72-63 ?
However, a three-point bomb by Young, with 3:35 remaining, gave coach Goldwin Monteverde?s charges their biggest lead (13), 78-65 ?
XS made one last desperate run to turn the tide around, tallying 10 straight points (five each by Cabero and Lao) to trail by just three, 78-75, with 1:57 left ?
Bayquin restored CKSC?s lead to five, 80-75, at the 1:34 mark. Cabero lost the rock with 38 ticks left and Baytan and center Wilson Bartolome each split their two trips to the foul line for an 82-75 CKSC advantage ?
Baytan put together an all-around performance, collecting 22 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, five blocks and two steals in 38 minutes for the Blue Dragons, who seek to reach the Finals for the first time since 2008. Three other CKSC players scored in twin digits ? Young, 17; Bayquin, 15 (along with eight rebounds); and Tan, 14. Playmaker John Paul Nieles contributed nine points and Bartolome had six points and nine boards ?
Lao finished with 27 points (on 11-19 FG and 4-4 FT shooting clips), six reebies, two assists and two steals in 38 minutes for XS. Teng shot just 7-for-24 from the field and 8-for-12 from the charity stripes for 22 points. He also collected 16 rebounds and six assists. Lim scored all of his 11 points in the first half and wound up with 12 reebies and three assists for the game. Cabero totaled 10 (seven in the final 5.5 minutes) for the Golden Stallions, who are bidding to advance to the Finals for a league-record 12th consecutive year ?
Five seniors on the Xavier School team were initially barred by school officials from seeing action for being absent from class the whole day even as a meeting for all senior students was held in school. Only 30 minutes before the scheduled game (5:30 p.m.) did school officials relent and allow the five to play.

HOPE CHRISTIAN HS 89 ? ST. JUDE CATHOLIC SCHOOL 64
Notes: Hope Christian scored the game?s first five points and led from start to finish. At the end of the first 10-minute quarter, HCHS was ahead, 24-11. By halftime, coach Stevenson Tiu?s boys had doubled St. Jude Catholic School?s score, 46-23 ?
HCHS was ahead by least 22 points throughout the second half. It got bigger after an 11-0 blast (from 53-31) lifted Hope Christian to a commanding 64-31 advantage as Don Mendoza (five points), King Benemerito (four) and Clint Doliquez frolicked inside the paint ?
HCHS enjoyed its biggest lead at 70-33 before St. Jude Catholic School, behind the three-point bombs of Jason Ligad and Joel Chang, closed the gap to 72-43 at the end of the third quarter ?
With their huge deficit, there was not much life left for the Judenites of rookie coach Cholo Villanueva in the fourth quarter, who came no closer than 24 points (79-55 and 81-57) in the last 10 minutes ?
Four men scored in double figures for HCHS ? Doliquez, 15; John Apacible, 13; Benemerito, 12 (along with seven rebounds and seven assists; and Errol Villar, 12 (along with 16 boards and three blocks). Cat-quick guard Janrey Garrido and newcomer Mendoza contributed nine and seven points, respectively, for HCHS, which is seeking its first Juniors Division crown since 1993 ?
Ligad completed his Tiong Lian eligibility with 23 scores for St. Jude Catholic School, which finished its season at fourth place (win or lose, Chiang Kai Shek College is assured of at least third place for forcing a rubber match against Xavier School earlier in the day). Chang contributed 16 points on 6-for-10 field shooting, including 4 for-8 from the three-point territory. Strongman Richard Sy, a senior like Ligad and Chang, registered a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards for the Judenites.