Saturday, October 11, 2008 Wildcats, Kings dispute title By Marianne Saberon-Abalayan
DAVAO City champion University of Mindanao (UM) Wildcats and runner-up Jose Maria College (JMC) Kings arranged another titular showdown anew after beating teams from General Santos City in the 2008 Philippine Collegiate Championship League (PCCL) Regional crossover semifinals at the Gaisano South (GS) Citimall SkyGym on Thursday.
The Wildcats ripped the General Santos number 2 squad Ramon Magsaysay Memorial College (RMMC), 90-64, while the Kings pulled off a 101-94 win over General Santos top team Holy Trinity College.
Gryan Mendoza topscored with 17 points for the Wildcats coached by Roderick Conda, while Mark Anthony Oczon and Jay Lantingan drilled in 16 and 12 points, respectively, for RMMC.
In the main game, the Kings pulled away with an eight-point lead at halftime and stretched their margin by 10 points at the end of the third canto.
But HTC rallied to close the gap and force an 84-all tie in the final four minutes. A seesaw battle then ensued.
The Dindo Pastor-coached Kings, however, put up a stiff defense to foil HTC's attempts at the basket to snatch a one-point advantage, 92-91 with one minute and 39 seconds left.
The Kings never looked back from there to seal the win after HTC succumbed to costly shooting errors in the final minute.
John Adalin scored 24 points to lead the Kings while Ivan Lu added 17. HTC's Kevin Pragados scored a game-high 25, while Wendy Versoza added 24.
RMMC and HTC were still battling for third place as of press time.
The basketball tournament is sanctioned by BAP-SBP regional director Regino "Boy" Cua.
