THE waiting is finally over.
For the first time, a public school emerged champion in the Loyola Cup basketball tournament after the Cagayan de Oro National High School completed a come-from-behind 97-96 escape over Sacred Heart on Saturday, March 5, at the Xavier University gym, Cagayan de Oro City.
The hairline victory gave the City High Tigers the 18-under plum, and eventually erased their tag as whipping boys in the 11th edition of the inter-school hoopfest.
John Kenneth Al Puerto starred in the Tigers’ win after making his daredevil lay-up with just 1.5 ticks left in the thrilling fourth and final quarter.
Al Puerto’s heroic also won for him the tourney’s most valuable player trophy with 18 points to show as Jomarie dela Piedra backed him up with a solid 15.
Sacred Heart dictated the tempo in the first three quarters and even stretched their largest lead at 11 points before the Tigers managed to trim their deficit to four, 65-69, at the close of the third canto.
The tide turned to the Tigers from the start of the fourth quarter as they pumped a 10-1 run to their largest taste of the lead at 85-78.
But City High coach Bismark Labadan could not find the dagger as they allowed Sacred Heart to break away in less than a minute left in the game.
Sacred Heart coach Edgardo “Boy” Dacoco snatched back the lead, 94-93 behind two successive steals by Uriel Diaz that were all converted plus Steven Babate’s two charity shots.
From there, it went to a thrilling see-saw battle up to the end.
Al Puerto made his move in the last 16 seconds with a running lay-up, but Diaz quickly answered with a perfect two off the charity line and the lead back to Sacred Heart, 96-95.
The Tigers were given six seconds to make a play from the inbound and saw Al Puerto wide-open.
After receiving the ball, Al Puerto soared high passing two Sacred Heart defenders en route to scoring the biggest basket of his life that made the City High Tigers champions.
"Ang kadaugan ug kalampusan sa among team nagsumikad sa gipakitang panaghiusa sa among mga players nga nagdala ug kainit sa team (The victory of our team comes from the unity of our players and brought the heat in our team)," were Labadan’s victory words.
This was the Tigers’ second finals appearance in the Loyola Cup since the Assumption Montessori School denied them the title last year.
The Tigers also lost to Sacred Heart in the finals of the Cagayan de Oro Basketball Federation Tournament last year.
But finally, the Tigers pulled on their feet together as they surprised Sacred Heart including pre-tournament favorites Corpus Christi School, St. Mary’s School and XU High School in the elimination round.
Joining Al Puerto in the mythical five were Stanley Bedolido (Assumption), Allen Dave Pelgrino (PCF), Jhunry Minaling (Sacred Heart) and Dela Piedra.
