City High, UC arrange title showdown

BAGUIO City National High School and the University of the Cordilleras get a crack at the championship after edging separate foes at the close of the semis in the ongoing National Basketball Training Championship D-League.

Bucking an almost poor start, City High limited Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Montessori to only eight in the second period to score an 89-65 victory in their semis match held Saturday morning at the UC gym.

Mt. Carmel, who was paced by Neil Patrick Dimaculangan's 13 points enjoyed a 17-26 cushion at the end of the first period but has gone dead cold in the second period to trail by 1 at halftime, 35-34.

City High, inspired by their triple overtime victory the last time out blazed the net with 32 points at the end of the third period to enjoy a 67-51 cushion after three quarters in the 18 and under basketball tournament supported by FRB Foundation.

Mark Culala, who led City High to their victory against Saint Louis University Laboratory High School, came up with 13 points who also drew support from Rommel Bautista and Jassonmore Ellamil who chipped in 12 points each that earn them the first final slot in the tournament.

The UC Jaguar high school squad also barged into the finals after a pulling off a 90-69 win over SLU in their semis match also held at the UC gym in the league that serves as a training ground for young boys to develop their fundamentals in basketball and ready for higher levels of the game and virtually serves as a grassroots program in the country.

The junior Jaguars clearly enjoyed their height advantage over their rival high school after closing the opening period with a 26-18 before enjoying a 33-22 bubble with 5:59 left in the first half of the ball game.

At the end of the second quarter, UC was way ahead SLU, 48-28, with Jaguar Ian Seña firing 15 points in that quarter to tow his team to the finals and arrange a City High-UC showdown.

SLU tried to trim down the deficit in the fourth period on a 6-0 blast to lag behind by 15 in the first one minute of the pay off canto for a 65-50 count after trailing at the end of the third period, 65-44.

But the junior Jaguars had a run of their own to seal their match up against City High and enjoy a 78-56 lead with 4:58 remaining.

Seña then finished the ball game with 28 points to lead all scorers in the ball game.