ANOTHER Metro Manila-based high school basketball tournament ended in dramatic fashion over the weekend.
Uno High School scored a stunning come-from-behind 54-53 victory over Saint Jude Catholic School Friday night to annex the Juniors Division title in the 1st Philippine Ching Yuen Athletic Association basketball competitions at the Uno High School Gym in Manila.
Two days earlier, the host Judenites had forced a rubber match against the No. 1 seeded Uneans, who topped the double-round elimination phase in the inaugural six-school league with an unblemished 10-0 record, following a heart-stopping 63-60 triple-overtime win.
This Hoopster was in attendance for the epic thriller – his second in two weeks for a high school game that went into triple overtime and third overall in his half-a-century local basketball travelogue.
The Uneans trailed practically during the entire winner-take-all finals, leading by one point on just two instances.
The first came in the early seconds of the 40-minute final showdown when top gun Clinton Choa connected on a triple.
The second and last occurred with five seconds left in the fourth and payoff period – a strong drive by Charles Chong which gave the Uneans a 54-53 lead. More importantly, this turned out to be the game-winning basket that propelled UHS to the title.
With no timeouts remaining, the Judenites’ Earl See hurriedly threw a Hail Mary shot beyond halfcourt at the buzzer that miserably failed to find its mark, and silenced the SJCS faithful that was about to celebrate after their team had enjoyed the upperhand for most of the game and still owned a 53-50 advantage with 49.7 ticks left on a three-pointer by hotshot Renzel Yongco.
From my years of basketball-chronicling and watching, only once did this Hoopster witness a game in which one team had never led throughout until it scored a basket at the game buzzer for the win.
That was in the early 1970s in the old Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) league when my favorite Yco Painters were up all the way against Concepcion Industries but eventually lost on a game buzzer-beating fielder by the latter for its first and only lead.
In a way, Uno resembled Concepcion Industries.
Just when St. Jude appeared headed for a victory, things dramatically changed in favor of Uno in the dying seconds.
Kyle Christian Tan scored on a jumper to slice St. Jude’s lead to one point, 53-52. Yongco committed his team’s fifth turnover of the fourth quarter at the 32.7-second mark, but Uno failed to capitalize on the miscue as Chong also turned over the rock with 15.2 seconds left.
Forced to foul to stop the game clock, the Uneans sent big man Francis Go to the foul line at the 13.5-second mark. At that point, the Judenites were 12-for-14 from the charity stripes. But the extreme pressure took its toll on Go, who missed a pair of freebies.
Uno gained ball possession and Chong, after surveying the situation, waltzed his way for an uncontested layup, time down to five seconds.
A shocked SJCS five fell to its knees after See’s wild shot at the buzzer went awry, disappointingly putting to waste Yongco’s 20-point, six-rebound performance as well.
Three Uneans scored in double figures – Choa, 17 points; Vic Jason See, 11; and Tan, 10.
Chong, the game hero, only had seven markers but they all came in the fourth quarter, the winning basket included.
Credit for the Uno win must go to Chong’s mom as well. According to Uno coach Milton Yu, who is set to retire after 30 years of O-ing and X-ing, Chong brought the wrong shorts to the game. To the rescue was his mom, who ran a mile to get the right one to the gym.
Only then was Yu able to put Chong in the game at the start of the second half.
Too late the hero Chong was not. His heroic act was just about to unravel.