HERE comes the “real” season – the playoffs where all the marbles are at stake – in the 3rd Philippine Ching Yuen Athletic Association (PCYAA) boys’ basketball competitions at the Uno High School gym in Tondo, Manila.
Host Philippine Cultural College is the top seed in the Juniors Division (High School) entering the quarterfinal playoffs today (February 9), having completed the single-round elimination phase among eight schools with a lily-white 7-0 record.
Defending Juniors champion Saint Jude Catholic is seeded second at 6-2, its lone setback (54-53) having come at the hands of the PCC Seagulls. The No. 3 seed belongs to Makati Gospel Church-New Life Christian Academy (5-2) and the No. 4 seed goes to Pace Academy (4-3).
All eight participating schools actually will suit up in the postseason. The top four teams will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage over their respective opponents in the quarterfinal matches, with the first- and second-placers after the elims also owning a twice-to-beat incentive in the semifinals, assuming they advance that far.
The quarterfinal matchups feature Philippine Cultural College vs. eight-seed and winless Saint Peter the Apostle School (0-7), Saint Jude Catholic School vs. seventh-seeded Jubilee Christian Academy (1-6), MGC-NLCA vs. six-seed Uno High School (2-5) and Pace Academy vs. fifth-seeded Grace Christian College (3-4).
The quarterfinal playoffs get underway today with Pace Academy taking on Grace Christian College. GCC has dropped its last two games, including a 72-70 loss to the Pacers last February 6.
In that encounter, Pace took a 69-55 lead with 5:10 remaining but Grace Christian came back with a 15-0 blast to grab the upperhand, 70-69, with 12.8 seconds left on a three-point play by Sebastian Choi.
Following a timeout by the Pacers, Pol Antiporda assisted Dean Ong for an uncontested right corner triple, time down to 7.9 seconds, as Pace took a 72-70 lead. Ong’s trifecta turned out to be the game-winner as Choi’s three-point attempt at the buzzer was blocked.
The schedule of the other quarterfinal matchups is as follows: MGC-NLCA vs. Uno High School, Thursday, February 11 (7 p.m.) and both Saint Jude Catholic School vs. Jubilee Christian Academy (10:30 a.m.) and Cultural vs. Saint Peter (12 noon) on Saturday, February 13.
Saint Jude and Jubilee clashed in last year’s best-of-three Juniors finals, with the Judenites registering a two-game sweep after Jubilee blew a golden chance to steal the series opener.
Judenite king Renzel Yongco, the PCYAA’s leading scorer for the past two seasons, was lost to graduation. But Jubilee suffered heavier casualty with the loss of graduated stars John Miko Cheng and Paolo Lim.
In their elims outing last February 7, SJCS blasted Jubilee, 70-44, behind Lance Chan (14 points) and Maynard Yap (12), who combined for 26 points. Burly Lanz Tan, the tournament’s No. 1 rebounder at 18.0 rpg, collected 17 points and grabbed 18 boards for JCA.
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