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).
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