Sunday, October 05, 2008 CCDC takes BBEAL basketball crown By Roderick Osis
IT WAS a championship made under pressure and no more tomorrow as the La Trinidad-based dribblers win their second championship since joining the Baguio-Benguet Educational Athletic League (BBEAL).
In a remarkable group effort by the band in orange, the Cordillera Career Development College Admirals pulled off a championship in their do or die match against the Saint Louis University, 79-65, and wrest the BBEAL Season 21 men's basketball crown Friday night at the jam-packed UC Gym.
The Admirals accomplished their return to glory by opting not to lean on one dominant performer and showing the same kind of heart that made them last year's top winner.
The CCDC had to work hard during the semis and defeated the UC Jaguars twice to advance in to the finals.
SLU, on the other hand, was waiting on the far end after disposing the UB Cardinals in their semi final series.
"We did not win this game in offense tonight, we won it at the defensive end," said CCDC coach Gerry Estraniero.
"We're a pretty intelligent team this year. We could actually execute defensive strategies that I've never been able to execute for other teams in CCDC. A lot of credit goes to the players for being dedicated to defense," he added.
"For a while there it did get a little bit scary at the end," said Estraniero. "But again, our defense held up as it has the entire year."
Harold Sabado fueled the Admirals comeback from a sluggish start by unloading 16 of his 36 points including four triples in the first period to lead CCDC by 13 at the end of the first period, 23-10.
At the end of the first half, the Admirals were riding high on as five point lead, 40-35.
"Coach Gerry only had one advice for us throughout the course of the series," Admirals shooting guard Sabado said. "Forget about everything, just play defense."
"Everybody just stepped up when they needed to and that's what got us here," he added.
And when his team needed a spark from their main man, Sabado gladly stepped into the limelight.
Sabado got support from the towering 6'1" Aaron Aquino who had a double-double performance for the Admirals with his 12 point production in the entire game including 11 rebounds.
"Coach just told us to work on our free throws and our defense," the beanpole Aquino said after the game.
Point guard Kirk Tamiray added seven points for the team but had seven big rebounds to go with his four assists.
Sabado contributed six rebounds including three steals and assist in the entire game. He was scoreless in the entire second period with the Navigator defenders pushing him out of his comfort zone.
