THE more, the merrier.
Out there in the Metro is another high school basketball league named the Mondes Cup 12th Filipino Chinese Schools Alliance Basketball League (FCSABL) or simply the Alliance Basketball League.
This year’s one-month competitions have attracted seven Chinese-Filipino schools. These are the Philippine Institute of Quezon City, Philippine Sun Yat Sen High School, Quezon City Christian Academy, MGC New Life Christian Academy, Chiang Kai Shek College Scout, Philadelphia High School and defending titlist Philippine Chen Kuang High School.
Organizing the event year after year has been Streamson Dela Cruz, who dabbles as the PCKHS head coach.
“Promoting youth basketball at the grassroots level has been my advocacy in life and more than a decade after I helped establish the Alliance, the passion has not waned a bit,” said the 52-year-old Dela Cruz.
“There is deep satisfaction in seeing youthful athletes being able to showcase their basketball skills through competitions like the Alliance. Maybe somewhere out there is a future national team player who may yet bring honor to the country.”
Dela Cruz may be a battle-scarred organizer of various cage tournaments in the Chi-Fil community but he also concedes that he could not pull it off by his lonesome. He needs the support of kindhearted friends from the business sector such as Edmond Lim of Mondes Hair Color, New Spec Computer, Planet General Merchandise, Jumbolita Homeward, Catstar Suspension Parts, Surer, Arrowbond Aluminum, Nash coffee, Rspec Automatic Brake, Xarion, Godspeed Sports and the local distributors of Spalding, the official basketball of the 12th FCSABL.
All can make a difference in the success of a tournament.
On the games themselves, three teams remain unblemished in this year’s Alliance Basketball League – Chiang Kai Shek College Scout (3-0), Dela Cruz’s own PCKHS Huskies team (2-0) and Philippine Sun Yat Sen High School (2-0).
On Wednesday, February 21, PCKHS and PSYSHS slug it out on the Huskies’ home floor in a battle of unbeaten teams. Three days later (February 24), it’s the turn of the CKSC Blazing Dragons to test the mettle of Sun Yat Sen.
On Saturday, March 3, Chen Kuang and Chiang Kai Shek College Scout face each other in another marquee matchup. The two teams squared off in last year’s championship game.
Last Sunday, CKSC Scout crushed PIQC, 92-45, as five Blazing Dragons racked up 10 points or more – Rafael Go (18), Jonathan Chan (18), Justin Ng (11), Bryant Ngie (11) and Harvey Dela Cruz (10).
PCKHS bucked a 37-point effort by Quezon City Christian Academy’s cat-quick point guard Steven Binondo (an Allen Iverson play-alike who leads the tournament in scoring with a 39.7-point clip) en route to a 97-87 victory behind its Fantastic Four of Nestor Cyrus Ramos (25 points), ex-National University Bullpup Joshua Jugar (22), Carl Edwin Chan (18) and Don Antonio Lu (12).
MGC New Life Christian Academy evened its record at 2-2 following a hard-earned 86-76 win over winless Philadelphia High School. Mcneil Si and Ike Lim chalked up 28 and 18 points, respectively, for the New Lifers.
The PHS Panthers, who hog the cellar in the team standings at 0-4, were bannered by Phillip Midel’s six triples and 35 markers.
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