City High, UC meet in NBTC finals

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

BAGUIO City National High School (BNCHS) and the University of the Cordilleras (UC) scored separate wins to arrange a title duel in the Baguio leg of the National Basketball Training Center Elite Basketball League.

BNCHS dropped Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Montessori in their semis match, 76-67, to earn the first finals seat in the tournament while UC finished off a fighting Saint Louis University (SLU), 72-84, to take the last seat in the best of three series.

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After trailing at the end of the first regulation, 15-18, City High finally brought their ‘A’ which eventually tied the ball game at 32 after 20 minutes of play.

Jan Vincent Delos Santos came up with eight huge points in the third period for an 8-0 run that saw BCNHS finally seizing the lead which they lost early in the opening canto and put them on driver’s seat, 40-32, with 7:32 remaining in the third period.

From then on, City High never looked backed as it posted its biggest lead with 5:10 remaining in the third canto, 46-36, before bursting to a 20-point lead late in the payoff period, 70-50, with 2:50 remaining in the ball game.

Delos Santos finished with 18 points while Kevin Culala came up with 13 markers of his own.

UC, meanwhile, almost succumbed to pressure late in the final canto but withstood SLU’s gallant comeback to secure the last seat in the finals.

Karl Soriano led all scorers with 26 points while Renze Rasheed Cosme added 25 as Mac Zapanta had 13 points for the UC high school squad to arrange a grudge against tormentor City High in the YMCA basketball tournament recently.

UC ended the first period with a 21-20 advantage but SLU came back with five points right away to steal the lead at 23-25 with 9:05 left in the second canto.

From then on, it was a see-saw battle the rest of the second period before UC finally took the driver’s seat for good and enjoy a 38-47 lead.

SLU gained a little momentum later in the fourth period to narrow down the gap at 67-71 with 3:13 remaining from a 10 point deficit.

That was the last straw for the SLU squad as UC came charging back to control the ball game and post a precarious 72-80 lead with 57 seconds remaining.