YOU can’t keep an outstanding basketball player down for a long time.
This was the case with King Judenite Renzel Symon Yongco, who atoned for his so-so performance in the opener of the best-of-three Juniors Division finals by churning out 31 points, including four triples, and collecting six steals and five rebounds in Saint Jude Catholic School’s emphatic 77-48 Game Two victory against Jubilee Christian Academy last Friday (February 20) and securing the championship in the 2nd Philippine Ching Yuen Athletic association (PCYAA) basketball competitions at the Uno High School Gym in Tondo, Manila.
SJCS finished with a lily-white 11-0 record in the six-week tourney and Yongco capped his brilliant high school tenure with a PCYAA title, just a year after his school dropped the finals rubber match against eventual winner Uno High School in an endgame collapse.
The athletic 6-foot-1 Yongco, a graduating high school senior who turns 18 in July, shot 11-of-22 from the field and 5-of-5 from the foul line – a huge turnaround from his numbers in Game One when he went 4-for-22 from the field and was 5-for-13 from the charity stripes for 14 points and Saint Jude uncharacteristically trailed by eight points, 52-44, after three quarters before tightening its defense en route to a come-from-behind 65-59 triumph over a gritty JCA outfit.
Saint Jude surrendered the first six points in Game Two but uncorked a 10-0 blast that propelled the team to a lead it never surrendered thereafter.
Ahead 35-25 at the half, coach Luis Nolasco’s charges opened the third quarter with 16 unanswered points to move safely ahead, 51-25, and shatter whatever hopes of a comeback by JCA.
Yongco netted 13 points – including a pair of treys and a three-point play – in the third canto as SJCS zoomed to a 60-37 advantage. In contrast, Paolo Lim and John Miko Cheng, who tallied 22 and 21 points, respectively, in Game One, were both held scoreless during the runaway period.
The Judenites enjoyed their largest lead of 30 points on two occasions – 75-45 and 77-47.
In addition to Yongco, who wound up as the tournament’s top point-producer for the second consecutive year with a 22.3-point clip, two other SJCS players scored in double digits – Earl See, 17 (after a team-best 16 markers in the series opener), and Pua, 13. The hardworking Pua also hauled down 18 rebounds for a double-double.
Jubilee, which finished its inaugural campaign with a 7-4 card for second-place honors, got 17 points, eight boards, five steals and two assists from Lim (who is headed to De La Salle University in July). Cheng had five steals but was limited to nine points and burly frontliner Lanz Tan, the third force in JCA’s Big Three, labored to secure his seven points although he was active off the glass with nine reebies.
For Saint Jude Catholic School, the championship was its second in the PCYAA this season, having earlier snared the Developmental crown for players age 11 and under.
Host Uno HS blasted Saint Jude in the one-game finals of the Ladies Division (Girls High School) to complete an 11-0 finish.
The Aspirants Division title for players age 13 went to Makati Gospel Church-New Life Christian Academy, which beat Philippine Cultural College, 67-53, in the deciding Game Three of the best-of-three finals.
PCC, the 2013 champion, forced a rubber match with a 75-67 win in Game Two to halt MGC-NLCA’s 10-game winning streak.
Philippine Cultural College will be the host in PCYAA Season 3.