WELL-motivated Batch 1995 on Friday, August 4, devoured defending St. Ignatius de Loyola Cup champion Batch 1994, 72-53 in the ongoing 8th XUHS-ABA Basketball Tournament at Xavier University High School covered courts in Pueblo, Cagayan de Oro City.
Batch ‘95 dedicated their morale-boosting win to shooting guard teammate Alvin Llavore, who is now recovering from a brain operation last month in Davao City.
“We dedicate this one to our 1995 brother Alvin. This one is for you bro,” said center-forward Shantao Moreno, who finished with eight points.
John Geroy paced Batch 1995 with 19 points, while Clyde Igot and James Gaston delivered 13 and 12 markers each.
Alumni 95, a three-time ABA champions, unleashed their might in the first quarter where they erected a commanding 20-point lead.
From there, 1995 won’t give the defending champions a breather as they limited the 1994 tandem of Paul Valencia and Jerome Pagute to only 16 and 8 points, respectively.
1995 now takes the solo leadership in the Loyola Cup division with a 4-1 win-loss record, while 1994 dropped at second place with four wins and two losses.
In other results, Jet Yaranon pulled a game-high 20 points to lift Batch 2005 over XUHS 2004, 40-38.
From a 38-all deadlock in the dying seconds of the fourth quarter, Yaranon sank the winning jumper with only four ticks left.
Meanwhile, Richard Chavez and Renato Nacalaban knocked 17 points each to lead Batch 2002’s demolition of Batch 2003, 70-45.
XUHS 2002 now has a 4-1 record, while 2003 remains at 1-5 win-loss slate.
Batch 1996, on the other hand, hammered out a thrilling 63-60 win over Batch 1993.
