ASSUMPTION Montessori School won its four-straight title after outlasting Liceo de Cagayan University, 69-57 in the final of the 2017 West I District Meet secondary boys basketball tournament held at Xavier University High School covered courts on Saturday, September 2.
Sixteen-year-old Marc Lim, Assumption’s newly promoted first stringer guard, made a surprising 20-point finish, even as Milo Janao Jr. chipped in 14 points.
From a 13-all deadlock at the end of the first quarter, the Liceo jr. Titans of come-backing coach Andy Calingin threatened to steal the show via a 5-0 run to force Assumption coach James Racines to call for time-out.
The AMS Jaguars were trying to hold the gap closer as they trimmed Liceo’s lead by one at the end of the half, 28-27.
The Jaguars were getting stronger in the third canto as they blasted a 10-2 run to turn the tide on their favor.
Not only that, the Jaguars pulled their largest stretch at 18 in the fourth and final quarter.
A back-to-back treys pulled the Titans to within eight with over 2 minutes to play, but that was the best they can do as the Jaguars tightened up defense to post another double-digit lead en route to victory.
The win also place the Jaguars in a good position to vie for a third City Meet title and avenge their heart-breaking loss to the Corpus Christi-dominated South District team last year.
“We will try to make a third stint in the city meet, though taas ang competition but we will see,” said Racines.
Ex-City High forward Duke Gabriel Bancale paced Liceo with 18 points, while coach Calingin’s son Paolo gave 11 markers.
The Jr. Titans eliminated host Xavier University High School in their thrilling first round bout, 83-81.
From 81-all deadlock, the Jr. Crusaders had three ball possessions to seal the win but failed to score in the dying seconds of the ballgame, including a buzzer-beating fastbreak play by Bancale.
