By CYRUS M. GARDE
BACOLOD City — Defending champion Batch 05/06/07 AX Currency got past the 2014 St. John’s Institute (SJI) Falcons varsity, 71-65, in the 6th Msgr. John Liu & John Su Memorial Basketball Cup Tuesday at the Msgr. John Liu Activity Center here.
Batch 10/11/12 New Energy Mktg. earlier eked out a win against SJI Dads, 87-77, to join the defending in the win column.
Former SJI varsity stars Bryan Victor Javelosa and Alvin Dionela form the vaunted wall against the 2014 SJI varsity squad.
The win was not easy for defending champion. The varsity squad even took the first quarter, 15-13, and control the next quarter, 33-23, as exchange lead changes follows until the final buzzer.
Brain Coo and Bryan Javelosa, however, led the comeback for defending champion as they cut the lead to four points at the end of the third quarter.
The defending champion took the momentum as some of the varsity squad sustained injuries, forcing Coach Richie Militante to pull them out of the court to rest.
In the first game, Batch 10/11/12 guard Jappy Cuaycong scored 14 for an eight-point lead against SJI Dads as he top scored with 34 points at game end.
SJI Dads, formed by Jay Agulan and Ryan Gamboa, comprises non-alumni players with children currently enrolled in the school.
Gamboa, a news anchor for ABS-CBN Bacolod, is a former University of Saint La Salle varsity player. He scored 19 points for the losing effort of SJI Dads.
Counterattack was mounted by big men Felipe Luciano, Eugene Tsai and Pantaleon in the paint to wrest back control for the SJI Dads side, 40-36.
In the third quarter, the Dads stepped on the gas as they race to a 14-point lead against the seemingly hapless New Energy squad, 69-55.
But in the final quarter, youth become the factor for Batch 10/11/12 as it climb back to erase SJI Dads lead in just 5 minutes of play with Cuaycong’s three triples for the final count.
Ten teams were participating in the tournament played every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday./PN
