ATHLETICS

Xavier whips St. Jude in Tiong Lian Games
February 1st, 2007
Henry Liao ‘72, YEHEY! Contributors

Posted Friday, 02-Feb-2007 12:54 PM

     Xavier School outclassed St. Jude Catholic School, 67-39, to seize second place in the Juniors Division of the Metro Manila Tiong Lian Basketball Association competitions held at the Chiang Kai Shek gym last Wednesday, Jan. 31.

     In another game, Grace Christian High School took its second victory in five games with a thrilling 63-60 decision over winless Hope Christian High School (0-4).

     Xavier totes a 4-1 record and winds up its six-game elimination schedule against Hope Christian on Saturday Feb. 3 (7:00 p.m.). With the loss, St. Jude dropped to 3-2 and could slip to fourth place if it loses to league-leading Chiang Kai Shek (4-0) in its final elim game on Wed Feb. 7.

     St. Stephen’s High School, which currently owns a 2-2 mark, faces Uno High School (1-4) on Fri Feb. 2 and Grace Christian (2-3) on Sat Feb. 3. A pair of victories will give St. Stephen’s the No. 3 ranking.

     All seven schools will qualify for the playoffs regardless of their win-loss records. The topnotcher, presumably Chiang Kai Shek, will receive a quarterfinal bye and move directly into the semifinals with a twice-to-beat advantage.

     Second-placer Xavier will play against the seventh- and last-placer, presumably Hope Christian, in the quarterfinals with a twice-to-beat advantage. Should the Golden Stallions advance, they would play the winner of the No. 3 vs. No. 6 quarterfinal matchup with a twice-to-beat advantage as well.

     Xavier got off to a slow start, trailing by four, 7-3, at one stretch. A 10-0 blast, behind six points by Justinn Sze and four by Gabriel Banal, gave the Stallions a 13-7 lead. The Gold and Blue grabbed a 17-14 edge after the first 10-minute quarter then St. Jude scored nine straight points bridging the first and second periods to move ahead, 20-17. However, Xavier exploded for nine consecutive points of its own, to take a 26-20 lead that it never surrendered thereafter.

     Halftime score was 32-25 with Banal collecting 15 points and Sze knocking in half-a-dozen.

     In a game of spurts (and lackadaisical defense by St. Jude), Xavier banked on its running game and inside plays to register runs of 9-0 (30-25 to 39-25) and 11-0 (39-28 to 50-28) to break the game wide open at the end of the third quarter, 50-30. St. Jude was outscored 18-5 in the third quarter.

     Another 9-0 blast (56-37 to 65-37) late in the fourth quarter gave Xavier the first of its two 28-point margins in the game.

     Banal bucked a heavily-bandaged left shoulder injury to finish with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots for Xavier. Sze wound up with 12 markers and four boards to earn Player of the Game honors. Twelve players scored for the Stallions, who shot 15-for-18 from the free-throw line.

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