COOL dude Jaezen Shandy Ngo clustered five points in the last two minutes to hand top seed Saint Jude Catholic School the lead for good en route to a nerve-wracking 29-27 victory over second seed Philippine Cultural College Saturday afternoon (December 6) in the championship game of the Developmental Division (for players aged 11 and under) in the 2nd Philippine Ching Yuen Athletic Association (PCYAA) basketball competitions held at the Uno High School Gym in Tondo, Manila.
It was a heart-stopping 32-minute duel that featured scoring streaks by both schools. There were various lead swings throughout the game.
Ngo sparked a Judenites comeback with a triple and a layup at the 2:26 and 2:05 marks of the payoff quarter that gave his team a 28-25 lead. Julius Santos made a pair of free throws to trim the Seagulls’ deficit to one point, 28-27.
PCC had several chances of regaining the lead but the team eventually self-destructed by muffing four consecutive free throws, including two each by tiny guard Kyle Tung (44.4 seconds left) and burly Art Tong (35.8 ticks remaining) in a span of 8.6 seconds.
SJCS’ Kobe Chong was caught stepping along the baseline with 13.9 seconds left for a violation, allowing PCC another opportunity to win and force a do-or-die match.
However, it was not to be as Tong misfired on a jumper with 2.7 seconds remaining, sealing the Seagulls’ doom.
Following a SJCS timeout, Chong was fouled with 0.8 ticks left for two trips to the foul line. He sank his first then deliberately missed the second as time ran out for a title-clinching 29-27 victory by the Judenites.
The game opened with split throws by PCC’s Dominic Tumnob and Laurence Sengia for a 1-1 tie. Tung banked in a fielder to give PCC a 3-1 lead before SJCS’ Ethan Yaw went 1-for-2 from the foul line as the first eight-minute quarter ended 3-2 in PCC’s favor.
It also was the start of a 10-0 run by the Judenites bridging the first and second periods that gave them an 11-3 advantage. Following an exchange of baskets by Tumnob and Sengia, SJCS was still up by eight points, 13-5, time down to 2:36 in the first half.
Tong connected on a fielder and went 2-for-2 from the charity stripes as the Seagulls were down by just four, 13-9, at lemontime following two free throw misses by Ngo.
The third quarter opened with a 7-0 PCC run, including five from Tong, as 11 unanswered points propelled the Seagulls to a 16-13 edge.
Then SJCS closed out the period with a run of its own – six straight markers that was capped by a Jared Chan jumper – that gave the Mendiola-based school a 19-16 advantage entering the final quarter.
After Sengia pushed SJCS’ lead to 21-18 with a looping jumper at the 6:12 mark, Elijah Asana split his freebies and Tung knocked in a short fielder to force a 21-21 tie.
Igniting PCC’s endgame free-throw meltdown, Tumnob missed two trips to the line then watched Sengia score on a putback for a 23-21 SJCS lead with 3:40 left. Asana tallied a twinner for the game’s fourth deadlock, 23-all, and his teammate Tong had a putback for a 25-23 PCC lead, time down to 2:47.
Then came Ngo’s heroics. And Saint Jude Catholic School, which finished with a 10-1 overall record, was on its way to the PCYAA Developmental Division crown.
Sengia topscored for the Judenites with 12 points. Ngo contributed seven markers and Chong and Yaw tallied three apiece for coach Ed Dela Torre’s kiddie corps.
Art Tong, the son of PCC bench boss Arthur Tong, collected a game-high 13 points, including nine in the second half, for the Seagulls. He went 0-for-4 from the foul line in the final quarter and was 3-for-8 overall.
Tumnob and Tung totaled five ands four points, respectively for PCC, which placed second in the six-team competitions with an 8-3 mark overall.
Pace Academy, which was the only team to beat SJCS during the elimination phase, wound up third in the tournament.
Besides Saint Jude Catholic School and Philippine Cultural College, the schools that took part in the Developmental Division were Makati Gospel Church-New Life Christian Academy, Grace Christian College, Pace Academy and host Uno High School.
During the inaugural PCYAA season a year ago, MGC-NLCA went unbeaten in capturing the Developmental title, easily dispatching Grace Christian College in the finals. Saint Jude Catholic School placed third.