MMTLBA Day 13 XS Reaches TL Finals
by Henry Liao for philippinebasketball.ph (02/11/10)


SEMIFINALS
(No. 1 seed Xavier School and No. 2 seed St. Jude Catholic School enjoy twice-to-beat incentive)

No. 1 seed Xavier School beat No. 4 seed Chiang Kai Shek College, 91-86, to enter finals for a 10th consecutive year

No. 3 seed Hope Christian HS beat St. Jude Catholic School, 74-58, to force a rubber match on Friday, February 12, 5:30 p.m.

FINALS SCHEDULE
(best-of-three series)

No. 1 seed Xavier School (7-0) versus the winner of the No. 2 St. Jude Catholic School vs. No. 3 Hope Christian HS semifinal matchup

Game 1 – Monday, February 15, 5:00 p.m., Xavier School gym
Game 2 – Thursday, February 18, 6:00 p.m., CKSC gym
Game 3 (if necessary) – Saturday, February 20, 6:00 p.m., CKSC gym

February 10, 2010 RESULTS

FIRST GAME (semifinals)
Hope Christian HS (6-2) 74 vs. St. Jude Catholic School (5-2) 58
Halftime: 33-28

HOPE CHRISTIAN HS
King Benemerito – 20 points and 16 rebounds, two assists and two steals
Errol Villar – 18 points, 16 rebounds, two steals and two blocks
Raymond Tan – nine points
Joshua Go – nine points
Reuel Rabino – seven points and eight rebounds
Jessiery Pedrosa – six points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 12 minutes
Janrey Garrido – four points, six rebounds and three assists

ST. JUDE CATHOLIC SCHOOL
Jason Ligad – 12 points, 5-for-15 from the field (including 1-for-8 from three-point area), three rebounds and 0 assist
Kim Lo – 11 points, five rebounds and three blocks
Carlo Cheng – 10 points
Derrence Lam – nine points, six rebounds and two assists
Joel Chang – 0 points, 0-for-7 from the field (including 0-for-5 from the three-point area)

NOTES: With St. Jude’s Kim Lo in foul trouble, Hope Christian HS got off to a pair of 10-point leads (15-5 and 17-7) in the first quarter, which ended at 18-11, behind seven points each by King Benemerito and guard Joshua Go. Hope Christian was ahead 22-11 when St. Jude’s Jason Ligad completed a rare four-point play (a three-pointer plus a free throw) to trim the deficit to seven, 22-15. Center Errol Villar connected on a three to give Hope Christian a 33-28 halftime lead. St. Jude skipper Carlo Cheng had nine f his 10 points in the first half as Lo struggled with just two and Ligad with four. St. Jude took a 42-39 lead midway through the third quarter on consecutive jumpers by Ligad but a 16-3 run by Hope Christian, built around Benemerito’s nine points, gave the team a 55-45 advantage entering the fourth period. St. Jude could not come closer than seven points (53-60) in the fourth quarter as Hope built a 17-lead in the closing seconds,
74-57, behind back-to-back baskets by Benemerito. Freego Player of the Game – King Benemerito, Hope Christian High School. Ralph Ng and Jiro Joaquin (the tournament leader in three-point field goal percentage) have been dropped from the St. Jude team. The season series between St. Jude and Hope Christian is 3-3 – including 2-2 in the rival Chinese-Filipino high school league, Metropolitan Amateur Sports Association, where St. Jude won over Hope Christian in the finals (2-1). A seventh game will be played on Friday, February 12.

SECOND GAME
Xavier School (7-0) 91 vs. Chiang Kai Shek College (4-4) 86
Halftime: 43-36

XAVIER SCHOOL
Jeron Teng – 34 points, 12-for-22 from the field, 23 rebounds, five assists and two steals in 39 minutes
Jose Manuel – 24 points, 9-for-16 from the field (including 5-for-9 from the three-point area), three rebounds, four assists and three steals
Donal Ong – 16 points, 6-for-10 from the field (including 4-for-7 from the three-point area), five rebounds and three assists
Bryan Tan – 10 points and four assists
Harold Ng – four points and five rebounds
Kevin Lim – three points and seven rebounds

CHIANG KAI SHEK COLLEGE
Paul Aduana – 28 points, 3-for-6 from three-point area, and five rebounds
Arvin Faustino – 18 points, 3-for-5 from three-point area, and four assists
John Baytan – 10 points, five rebounds and three assists
Gregorio Gimado – nine points and nine rebounds
Cyril Mopas – eight points
Jon Ngo – five points, 1-for-3 from three-point area

NOTES: Xavier School took a 21-14 lead after the first quarter as Jeron Teng (11) and Jose Manuel (7) combined for 18 points. CKSC moved ahead, 25-23, on an Arvin Faustino three, and was still ahead at 27-25 when Xavier went on a 10-0 run to regain the upperhand, 35-27. Halftime score was 43-36 in Xavier’s favor. The Golden Stallions had their biggest lead in the game at nine, 62-53, but CKSC closed out the third period with only a 66-62 deficit. Paul Aduana hoisted consecutive three-pointers to equalize the score at 70-all. But Manuel made a pair of threes as Xavier pulled away once again, 78-71. The Blue Dragons came within two points, 78-76, midway through the fourth quarter on a pair of free throws by John Nieles. However, Donal Ong struck for five straight points, including a triple, as Xavier again erected a seven-point edge (83-76) with four minutes left. An Aduana triple trimmed CKSC’s deficit to four points, 90-86. However, CKSC’s turnovers in three consecutive possessions in the final minute sealed its downfall even as Teng made just 1-of-4 free throws and Kevin Lim missed both of his foul shots in the final 23 seconds of play. The five-point winning margin is the smallest for Xavier this season. During the elimination round, Xavier School won over CKSC by just six points (86-80). Freego Player of the Game – Jeron Teng, Xavier School. Except for the two games against Chiang Kai Shek College, Xavier School has beaten all of its opponents by at least 17 points.

Xavier School, the two-time defending champion in the Juniors Division, has reached the Tiong Lian finals in each of the last 10 years, winning the title six times during the first nine. Going into the 2010 TL finals, Xavier School owns a 17-game winning streak (Game 3 of 2008 finals, 9-0 in 2009 and 7-0 so far this season).