The single round-robin elimination phase in the Juniors Division of the 39th Tiong Lian Basketball Association tournament came to an end Saturday night (Jan. 31) at the Uno Gym with Grace Christian College and Uno High School registering victories over their respective opponents to earn the No. 2 and No. 3 spots in the playoffs that are set to begin on Wednesday, Feb. 4, and will involve all seven member schools.

Grace Christian College (4-2) broke a two-game losing streak with an easy 83-67 decision over Chiang Kai Shek College (2-4) to secure the No. 2 seed while host Uno HS (4-2) turned back Hope Christian HS (1-5) with a 63-56 victory to gain the No. 3 seed.

Grace Christian and Uno owned identical 4-2 records but the former got the higher ranking under the winner-over-the-other rule because of its 77-70 win against Uno.

Grace Christian and Uno also earned a twice-to-beat advantage in their respective quarterfinal series, along with No. 4 seed St. Stephen’s High School (3-3).

Hope Christian HS and St. Jude Catholic School finished with identical 1-5 records but Hope Christian gained the No. 6 seed under the winner-over-the-other rule because of its 62-50 upset of St. Jude last Jan. 24 that broke a 22-game losing streak that began in 2006.

Friday night (Jan. 30), defending champion Xavier School shellacked No. 7 seed St. Jude Catholic School (1-5), 118-73, to complete the elimination round with an umblemished 6-0 record and secure the No. 1 seed and the lone outright semifinals berth that goes with it.

Expectedly, Jeric Teng, the league’s No. 1 scorer during the elimination round with a 43.3-point clip spearheaded the Golden Stallions’ success with 47 points (17-for-30 FG, 7-for-7 FT clip, six threes), six rebounds and seven assists.

Jeric, the tournament’s No. 1 scorer (43.3 ppg) and No. 2 rebounder (9.7 rpg), was ably supported by younger brother Jeron, who knocked in 16 of his 18 points in the second half; Kevin Lim, who got 10 (all in the first half); and Donal Ong and Jerald Sze, who each had nine.

St. Jude, which dropped its final five assignments, started strong and was ahead, 18-14, after the first quarter – marking only the second time in the tournament that Xavier had trailed after the first 10 minutes. Then the roof caved in for St. Jude as the Gold and Blue scored 16 consecutive points to start the second quarter and led 30-18.

Xavier was ahead, 51-36, at halftime and 80-56 after the third quarter. The Stallions’ biggest lead was 47 points (118-71) in the game’s closing seconds.

Guard Derrence Lam had 18 points to topscore for St. Jude, which had its entire coaching staff back after taking a sabbatical in its previous game against Hope Christian HS.

In the other game Friday night, St. Stephen’s High School edged out Chiang Kai Shek, 51-50, on Joseph Uy’s trey with 3.5 seconds left. Uy wound up with four threes and 20 points and Michael Lim came off the bench to contribute a dozen scores.

Against Chiang Kai Shek Saturday night, Grace gave up the game’s first five points but crawled back to take a 24-16 lead after the first quarter and a 41-34 advantage at halftime. CKSC came within three points, 43-40, on Jay Garte’s pair of free throws. However, Grace countered with 14 unanswered points, built around a pair of three-pointers by stocky Kerwin Tiu, to push its lead to 17, 57-40.

Grace, which is being mentored by Senen Duenas, was ahead, 63-47, after three quarters and led by no fewer than 13 points the rest of the way.

Four players scored in double digits for Grace, which had lost to Xavier School and St. Stephen’s High School following a 3-0 start. They are Christian So, 21 points; Kerwin Tiu, 16 (including four threes); Lawrence Anthony Chua, 16; and burly Justin Ngo, 16. Ngo, the tournament’s leading rebounder with a 14.5 rpg, also hauled down 18 boards.

Alvin Qua, a recruit out of Bacolod City, and Karl Villaflor each had 16 markers to lead Chiang Kai Shek, which grabbed the No. 5 spot.

Uno fell behind in the early minutes of its encounter with Hope but recovered quickly enough to move ahead the rest of the way, leading 34-21 at halftime and 49-39 after three quarters.

Cat-quick playmaker Isaac Lim, who 61 points in a Tiong Lian Asprants game two years ago, led three twin-digit scorers for Uno with 21 points. He was followed by Michael Reyes with 19 and Mark Ronald Chua with 12.

James Ko, a former volleyball player, was Hope Christian’s top marksman with 17 points.

On Wednesday (Feb. 4) at the Uno Gym, No. 3 seed Uno HS takes on No. 6 seed Hope Christian HS and No. 4 seed St. Stephen’s HS clashes with No. 5 seed Chiang Kai Shek College. Both Uno and St. Stephen’s enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage over their respective foes.

On Friday (Feb. 6), No. 2 seed Grace Christian College tangles with No. 7 St. Jude Catholic School also armed with a twice-to-beat advantage.

Any rubber matches will be played on Feb. 9.

The semifinals, which start on Feb. 11, will feature Xavier School vs. the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 quarterfinal series and the winners of the No. 2 vs. No. 7 and No. 3 vs. No. 6 quarterfinal matchups. Like Xavier School, the No. 2 vs. No. 7 victor will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage in the semis.

The semifinal winners qualify for the best-of-three finals, which will be held on Feb. 17 and 20 and, if necessary, Feb. 23.

The Final Four matchups in the six-team Aspirants Division (for players age 14 and under) have also been determined.

On Saturday, Feb. 7, No. 1 seed Chiang Kai Shek College (5-0) goes up against Grace Christian College (2-3) and No. 2 seed and defending titlist Xavier School (4-1) takes on No. 3 seed Uno High School. CKSC and Xavier will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage over their respective opponents.

The semifinal winners will clash in a best-of-three championship series that will be held on Feb. 14 and 15 and, if necessary, Feb. 18.

The Tiong Lian games are being televised by the Makisig Network via Sky Cable Channels 76 and 82 on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays on a one-day delayed basis.