Twin kill for St. Stephen’s

ST. Stephen’s High School scored a twin kill after capturing the titles in both the 12-Under Developmental Division and 14-Under Aspirants Division of the 6th Philippine Ching Yuen Athletic Association (PCYAA) basketball competitions held Thursday night at the Uno High School gym.
St. Stephen’s, which is in the second year of league participation, shellacked Saint Jude Catholic School, 68-58, to sweep the best-of-three Aspirants finals and succeed Grace Christian College atop the throne.
The Stephenians banked on a game-altering 17-0 run in the third quarter to turn what was once a tightly-contested game into a commanding 51-34 lead that helped doom the Green Knights.
Four players registered double-digit scores for Saint Stephen’s, which completed the two-month, eight-school tournament with a 9-2 record. They are Prince Pimentel, 17; Dhean Yu, 15; Gian Batac, 12; and Charles Ong, 10. Batac (15) and bull-shouldered Sherwin Li (14) combined for 29 of the team’s 49 rebounds.
Kobe Chong nailed five triples as part of his game-high 20 markers for Saint Jude, which had topped the elimination phase to earn the top seed.
The Green Knights earned runner-up honors while Jubilee Christian Academy settled for third place.
In the 12-Under Developmental Division, St. Stephen’s High School retained its crown with a come-from-behind 68-63 triumph over Uno High School to sweep the best-of-three finals, 2-0, and finish with a perfect 10-0 record.
The Stephenians fell behind by nine points, 59-50, with 3:19 left but came roaring back with a 13-0 blast built around Cedrick Ong to grab a 63-59 advantage with just under a minute remaining.
After the Blue Pandas’ Murphy Lim struck with an inside fielder to trim the Blue Pandas’ deficit to two, 65-63, Adrian Young knocked in a twinner and free throw in the final 20.5 seconds to finalize the count, 68-63.
SSHS, which defeated Jubilee Christian Academy, 2-1, in last year’s finals as a first-year PCYAA member, got three triples and 20 points from Bryle Teng; 18 points and 29 rebounds from Ong; and 15 points and 12 boards from Kenzo Bumanlag.
Austin Ramos paced Uno with 20 points, 17 of them in the final half.
Third place in the Aspirants competitions went to Philippine Cultural College.
Six players from SSHS were double winners as they were on the team roster for both the Developmental and Aspirants divisions. These are Bryle Teng, Andrei Chan, Kenzo Bumanlag, Cedrick Ong, Ian Reala and Sam Ng.
Basketball competitions in the Boys’ Juniors division and Ladies’ High School division will commence action in early January next year.
Saint Jude Catholic School is the defending champion in the Boys Juniors while Jubilee Christian Academy is the reigning titlist in Ladies High School.