THEY found ways to live up to the challenge when less expected.

The veteran pair of Anton Pabillore and Pacio Valencia were supposed to guide and provide back-up to their mostly young teammates in the first inter-department basketball championship of the annually-held Banco de Oro sportsfest.

But with the stake on the line, Pabillore and Valencia instead presided over Team Branch offensively on Tuesday’s 59-53 drubbing of CLG in their titular duel at the uptown Xavier University High School (XUHS)-Pueblo gym here.

The former FEU standout Pabillore made a perfect 4 of 4 shooting from the 3-point arc to score 15 points when Team Branch erected a comfortable lead at the end of the third quarter. He chose to focus on coaching the team in the remaining quarter as CLG—bannered by the youthful troika of Noel Yaranon, Bob Pagalan and Marvin Neri—theatened though was running out of time when it cut the lead down to six.

“Oks lang unta nga daghan ilang batan-on unya wala nisabay ang mga beterano. Di naman noon gasipyat ang tres ni Anton unya ang mga perimeter jumpers ni Pacio convert permi,” later said Borinaga, who was gasping scoreless by the kind of defense thrown at them by a bunch of Team Branch’s rookie players.

The streak-shooting Valencia finished the game with 14 markers.

Yaranon exploded for 21 points, but his fiery effort in the final fourth quarter was not just enough to overhaul Team Branch’s commanding lead. CLG also got 15 and 9 points each from Neri and Pagalan.

Team Branch made it to the finals behind Valencia’s buzzer-beating step-back trey against the Stephen Go-led Cash Hub 1 in the semifinals.

“Dili ‘to nako malimtan nga kadaugan kay tawo-tawo ang depensa 5 seconds ang nabilin nabiyaan nako ang depensa with a step-back 3-pointer,” said Valencia who went on to nail the MVP award.

The score:

Team Branch 59—Pabillore 15, Valencia 14, Macmac 9, Lagasca 7, Kentoy 7, Murillo 2, Ruiz 2, Lee 2, Ratunil 0, Dabi 0, Omococ 0, Laurea 0.

CLG 53—Yaranon 21, Neri 15, Pagalan 9, Butad 2, Galarpe 1, Galvez 1, Dollente 0, Roa 0, Borinaga 0, Manila 0, Damaluan 0.