IT was a sterling campaign for Makati Gospel Church-New Life Christian Academy in Season 4 of the Philippine Ching Yuen Athletic Association (PCYAA), having topped five of the 10 events in the league’s sports calendar.
A New Order in the PCYAA League has been established following the New Lifers’ title successes in 14-and-under Boys Aspirants basketball for a third straight season, Girls High School volleyball, first-ever Chess competitions, 14-and-under Girls Aspirants table tennis and finally, Boys Juniors basketball with a stunning 60-49 victory over Saint Jude Catholic School Tuesday night in the deciding Game Three of the best-of-three Finals at the Uno High School gym to halt the Judenites’ two-year title reign.
MGC-NLCA and SJCS clashed five times this season. While SJCS was victorious thrice, it was MGC-NLCA that secured the twin games that mattered most. The New Lifers grabbed the spine-tingling championship-series opener, 88-84, in double overtime. And after the Judenites equalized with a pulsating 69-65 win in Game Two, MGC-NLCA crowned itself as Boys Juniors Basketball king with an 11-point decision in the winner-take-all Game Three.
MGC-NLCA, which never trailed after tallying nine unanswered points bridging the first and second quarters to erase a 16-12 deficit, was ahead by as much as 17 points, 55-38, with 5:36 to go in the rubber match on an Ike Lim bucket. SJCS came closest at nine, 56-47, with 1:06 left but Cedric Ho sealed the New Lifers’ victory with a fielder, time down to 23.9 ticks.
Two quarter-ending stretches where its foe was held scoreless proved to be a key factor in MGC-NLCA’s title march.
Coach James Sia’s gritty troops finished the second period with an 8-0 blast built around a Tristan Lao jumper and a triple and three-point play by Ike Lim to take a double-digit advantage, 29-19, at lemontime. Saint Jude was held to just three points – a trifecta by Mallechi Lim that sliced its deficit to 21-19 – in the second 10-minute frame.
The second offensive avalanche by MGC-NLCA occurred following a Matthew Ang drive had put SJCS within three, 32-29, at the 6:12 mark of the third frame. The New Lifers closed out the third quarter with a 12-0 explosion – meal ticket Carl Ong netted six and Ho, Lao and Williamdale Tan each had a field goal – to head into the payoff period with a commanding 44-29 advantage.
Ong registered a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds for MGC-NLCA, which also got double-digit scores from Ho, 14 (including seven in the final quarter, along with six rebounds) and Ike Lim, 11 (including a pair of treys). Lao finished with nine markers and Daniel Lim plucked down nine rebounds for the quintuple championship-winning outfit from Taguig City.
Saint Jude Catholic School, which has figured in all four Juniors cage finals since the PCYAA opened shop in 2013-14, was bannered by Mallechi Colby Lim, who churned in 15 points and six boards. Two other Judenites registered double-digit scores – Maynard Yap, who in his farewell PCYAA appearance wound up with 10 points, 11 boards and three blocks while hobbled by cramps early in the fourth quarter, and Ang, who contributed 10 markers and four rebounds.
Jubilee Christian Academy has been named host of Season 5 PCYAA in time for its 50th school founding after Saint Peter the Apostle School gave way to the Jubileeans in the hosting rotation process.
Other schools in the eight-school PCYAA league are Season 4 host Grace Christian College, Philippine Cultural College, Pace Academy and Uno High School.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.