DESERVEDLY so, the top two seeds in the 18-Under Boys Juniors division of the 6th Philippine Ching Yuen Athletic Association (PCYAA) basketball competitions will duke it out in the championship round.
Armed with a twice-to-beat advantage, unbeaten Philippine Cultural College and defending champion Saint Jude Catholic School made short work of their respective semifinal opponents last Monday (February 11) night to arrange a best-of-three titular showdown.
The No. 1 seed Golden Seagulls made mincemeat of No. 4 seed St. Stephen’s High School with an easy 89-66 decision.
In contrasting fashion, the No. 2 seed Green Knights labored for 40 minutes before pulling off a thrilling 48-46 win over No. 3 seed Jubilee Christian Academy.
Game One of the best-of-three championship series will be played on Saturday, February 16 (4:30 p.m.). The second game will be on Wednesday, February 20. If necessary, Game Three will be held on Saturday, February 23.
Philippine Cultural College grabbed a commanding 53-25 advantage at the half and was never seriously threatened by St. Stephen’s throughout the game.
The Golden Seagulls were ahead by at least 20 points in the second half.
Frontliner Rico Wu knocked in eight of PCC’s 14 triples and finished with a career-high 30 points and 11 rebounds for the 8-0 Golden Seagulls.
Saint Jude, whose only defeat in eight appearances came in a 58-54 loss to PCC during the elimination round, struggled to gain separation from a hard-fighting Jubilee outfit that refused to roll over and die.
There were five lead changes in the fourth quarter — and six overall in the second half.
Down 43-38 following a 6-0 Saint Jude run, Jacky Tiu canned two free throws and a booming triple as Jubilee deadlocked the count at 43-all with 2:20 to go.
Saint Jude, though, regained the upperhand, 48-43, on a Joao Filipino trey and an Andrew Choa layup off Martin Ang’s steal and assist.
Zachary Amin netted a bucket and Tiu connected on the second of his two free throws to pull the Jubileeans within two, 48-46, with 42.3 seconds left.
Following a non-productive offensive play by the Green Knights, Adriel Marion Go, who earlier canned a pair of threes, misfired a shot from beyond the arc to doom Jubilee’s chance of a win that would have forced a rubber match.
Ang and Mallechi Colby Lim each tallied 12 points to pace Saint Jude.
Meanwhile, reigning titlist Jubilee Christian Academy, which is unblemished with an immaculate 8-0 record, needs only to defeat second-seeded Saint Jude Catholic School once in the Ladies Juniors finals on Saturday, February 16 (3 p.m.), to retain its crown.
The Lady Green Knights, on the other hand, must beat back-to-back scoring queen Sandra Villacruz (32.5 ppg) and the Lady Jubileeans twice to annex their first-ever title since the event was introduced in Season 2.
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