Chiang Kai Shek College repulses HCHS’s late rally for Seaoil NBTC win

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Chiang Kai Shek College repulses HCHS’s late rally for Seaoil NBTC win

 by rick olivares

Chiang Kai Shek College reasserted their mastery over Tiong Lian rival Hope Christian High School with a 77-71 victory to open the 2013-14 Seaoil National Basketball Training Center championship at the Ynares Center in Pasig last Thursday.

The CKSC Blue Dragons who now own a three-match winning streak over its Manila-based foe, drew plenty of firepower from junior shooting guard John Gallego who top scored with 25 points while back up point guard Fran Yu played the game of his life by dropping 14 points many of them from daredevil drives to the basket. Meds Salim, named Most Valuable Player of the recently concluded Seaoil Metro Manila Basketball League that CKSC won over HCHS, scattered 17 points before fouling out with the match still in doubt.

It was Hope Christian that started out well scoring the game’s first eight points with center John Apacible accounting for all of them while holding the Blue Dragons scoreless. CKSC coach Goldwyn Monteverde called for time out and instructed his team to toughen up their man-to-man defense.

That paid dividends as the Blue Dragons quickly overhauled the deficit. After Hope Christian’s Jollo Go drilled a three-pointer to give his side a 19-17 lead, Salim quickly countered with a coast-to-coast that triggered an 8-0 run that gave CKSC a 25-19 lead at the 6:21 mark of the second period.

The Blue Dragons held the lead for much of the game as they repeatedly beat back the rallies of Hope Christian with stifling defense and fluid ball movement.

Towards the end of the third period, Hope Christian came back from a 10-point deficit to tie the match for only the fourth time after a layup by Kurt Trangia to make it 49-all at the end of 30 minutes of play.

But any momentum was lost between the last two periods as the Blue Dragons blanked HPHS for the next six minutes and 23 seconds to once more take another 10-point lead, 59-49.

With the game seemingly out of reach, Hope Christian made one last push coming close 68-63 after a Kenneth Sumalacay under goal stab with 2:15 left. But back-to-back turnovers by Nunez and Go clearly hurt Hope Christian’s cause. The Blue Dragons held on for the win.

Hope Christian was paced by Go and Apacible who scored 17 and 16 points respectively.

In other matches on opening day, National University survived a late rally by Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu when Hubert Cani drilled a three-pointer off a broken play with two seconds left on his team’s shot clock. Cani’s shot gave the Bullpups a 76-72 lead with a minute left in the game and the current UAAP Juniors champions held on for an 80-76 win.

The format calls for teams from each group in both divisions to play a single round elimination. The top two teams advance to the crossover quarterfinals in an A versus B and C versus D affair. The four winners then meet in another crossover fashion in the semifinals to decide the finalists for both divisions.

The finals of the Seaoil NBTC is the culmination of the official grassroots program of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and is backed by the MVP Sports Foundation, Meralco, Smart, NLEX, Maynilad, Philex, Philippine Star and Molten.


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My analysis on the game:

Hope Christian tried to shut down Meds Salim with John Apacible taking him on down the post. It worked early on until Salim hit two treys from the outside. But the cardinal sin of HCHS was their poor defense. They should have thrown a box and one on the Blue Dragons with someone shadowing John Gallego who was mostly open for all his shots. 

Since the Seaoul MMBL, I wondered why HCHS's coaching staff refused to play Tzaddy Rangel and Apacible together. Were they worried that their game would slow down? They didn't win the battle of the boards. And even when they threw a two forward and three guard line-up they got killed especially in the endgame (no Apacible and Rangel on the court in the last five minutes). 

Compounding HCHS's woes was their poor shot selection. Jollo Go and Arjan dela Cruz were hardly in rhythm for their shots. Save for one or two Go shots, they never took them in the flow of the game. Always in a hurry with not much to aim for. As a result, they misfired.

The Blue Dragons were very disciplined on offense and defense. They spread the floor, moved the ball around and really took the game out of their opposing numbers. Go scored a lot of points late in the game but they sure needed him and dela Cruz early in the game.

My thoughts? CKSC not only outplayed their Tiong Lian foe but they outcoached them too.