Letran beats La Salle Antipolo for BBI
hoops 14U crown
by rick olivares
No way was Letran supposed to win
this. The La Salle Antipolo Voyagers were not only too good but they looked
imperious heading into the finals of the 14-Under Division of the Smart
Breakdown Basketball Invitationals’ Idol Mo Philippine Cup at the Moro Lorenzo
Sports Center in Quezon City.
The Voyagers went undefeated
heading into the finals, 8-0. They had top big man Enzi Cruz and league Most
Valuable Player Ernest John Geronimo and they previously handled the Squires in
the elimination round winning by six. If Letran was thought to have a chance to
win, they would have to be on target from the outside, their traditional
strength. La Salle Antipolo’s game was inside.
By game’s end, a shocking 64-56
win by Letran, it was the Squires who had their way inside. The Squires led by
big man with an outside gunner’s name Ray Allen Maglupay battled LAA’s Cruz to
a standstill scoring nine points to the latter’s 10 but won the rebounding
battle 11-8. Alongside Squire power forward Ralp Angelo Cruz who scored 16
points, Letran outscored La Salle 42-40 inside the paint. That doesn’t sound
much until you consider that the Squires shot 60% inside the paint to the
Voyagers’ 43%. That was greatly helped by Letran’s 16-6 difference in fastbreak
points where they resorted to the long pass when the Voyagers pressed.
“They got a lot of easy points,”
lamented La Salle head coach Loel Nacolanga whose wards only tasted the lead
once, at 2-0. However, almost immediately, Letran peppered the Voyagers with a
steady stream of medium and long range shots by Bradley Palmes and inside
points from Maglupay and Cruz.
The Voyagers came close late in
the third period, 44-43, after a Joseph Espiritu trey. Letran’s Rich Hernandez
who during the half time break endured a tongue lashing from head coach RJ
Guevarra after a poor play earlier redeemed himself with a lay-up and a
defensive gem on Espiritu in the next play that blunted La Salle’s momentum.
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| Rich Hernandez (#10) hangs his head after getting chewed out by his coach. He redeemed himself later with some solid play. |
Letran raced to a 15-point lead
late in the fourth period after another breakaway layup by Palmes, 64-49. Time
down to 2:21. The Squires held on for the win.
“We stopped (John Rey) Guevarra
from getting his shots,” said Nacolanga of the nephew of PBA player Rey
Guevarra. “But the others hit big shots. And we were poor in our transition
defense. The younger Guevarra who made the Mythical Five Selection finished
with a mere three points.
Cruz led Letran with 16 points
while Palmes added 14. Abanico chipped in 11 markers.
For La Salle Antipolo, Geronimo
despite injuring his ankle late in the game topscored with 18 points. Cruz was
the only other player in double figures with 10 markers as he only had nine
field goals attempts due to the defense of Letran.
Named to the Under-14 Mythical
Five Selection were Guevarra and Abanico from Letran, Geronimo and Cy Bularin
from La Salle Antipolo, and Paul Arnaldo from Rich Golden Shower Montessori
Center. Arnaldo was also adjudged the Best Defensive Player. Geronimo was also
named Best in Assists.
Cruz was named the Finals’ Most
Valuable Player.
In the 19-Under Division, the AMA
Computer College Junior Titans crushed the English Christian Academy White
Eagles 87-69 for the championship. The Junior Titans jumped on the White Eagles
from the opening whistle leading by a whopping 26-8 after the first 10 minutes
of play.
ECA made a game of it in the
second half and sliced what was once an imposing 31-point lead to 12, 64-52
after two free throws by JR Dela Rosa. However, AMA responded with a 13-1 run
that squelched any hopes for ECA.
AMA’s backcourt combo of Karl
Bautista and Carl Garcia where just too much for ECA. The duo scored 26 and 24
points respectively while forward JC Ortega added 16 points.
Junnel Morecho led ECA with 14
while Dela Rosa added 13. The White Eagles’ usual gunners of Dave Boje, Wilbert
Lauzon, and Marce Velasco were held to a combined 14 points.
Named to the U19 Mythical Five
were UPIS’ Jaggie Gregorio, AMA’s Juan Carlo Garcia, LSGH’s Migo Asuncion and
Tyrone Umali, and ECA’s Junnel Morecho. UPIS’ Polo Labao was named the Best in
Defense while AMA’s Garcia was named Best in Assists and the Season MVP. AMA’s
Bautista was awarded the Finals Most Valuable Player Award.
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| Coach RJ Guevarra of Letran with the trophy. |
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