The Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles may have lost the battle to the defending champions Chiang Kai Shek College Blue Dragons, 99-101, but they sure placed themselves squarely in the middle of the war for the biggest prize in all of high school basketball as they advanced to the finals of the 2015 Seaoil-National Basketball Training Center National High School Championship yesterday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
The Magis Eagles, the Blue Dragons and the San Beda-B all finished the single round-robin semifinals with identical win-loss records of 1-1 but the Cebuanos came through with the ticket to the finals after owning the superior quotient over the other two squads.
Ateneo de Cebu ended up with a quotient of 1.108, trumping CKSC’s 1.006 and San Beda-B’s 0.881.
The Magis Eagles will gun for the crown in today’s championship at the Meralco Gym opposite San Beda-A.
San Beda-A clinched the other finals seat after beating National University, 79-73, in their semis duel.
The Magis Eagles’ Fil-Australian sensation Joshua Sinclair led them with 23 points while Pierro Longa added 22. University of Santo Tomas-bound Zachy Huang added 14, Jeremy Nacua added 13 and Daniel Mayol pitched in 12 to help push the Cebuanos to within a win away from hoisting the national title.
CKSC’s lefty guard JV Gallego wound up with 27 points while point guard Fran Yu added 19.
Earlier in the day, the Magis Eagles handily beat the San Beda-B, 76-51, for their first win of the semifinals. With their vaunted trio of Sinclair, Huang and Janjan Jaboneta seeing limited action, Mayol and Longa took center stage as they sparked a breakaway in the first half that set the tone for the rest of the match.
Longa and Mayol each had 16 markers to lead Ateneo de Cebu.
Mayol was especially deadly in the first where he scored half of the team’s 22 points while providing his trademark hustle and heart to help hold San Beda-B down to a mere nine points. Longa then pumped in eight in the ensuing period to push the Magis Eagles’ lead to 20, 42-22, at halftime.
Mayol added four boards, three assists and two steals while Longa added eight rebounds to his name. Both had four three-pointers each.
Jaboneta saw just 20 minutes of action and had six points and nine rebounds while Sinclair, after scoring 30 last Friday, managed just four points, eight boards, three assists and three steals in 15 minutes of playing time.
Ateneo de Cebu’s cause was greatly helped by San Beda-B who essayed the upset of the tournament with a 76-75 win over the Blue Dragons. Joshua Tagala led SBC-B with 23 points while Peter Alfaro added 13 and Germy Mahinay and Prince Etrata 11 points each as the Red Cubs nipped the Blue Dragons, 76-75.
However, Ateneo de Cebu had to scramble against the Blue Dragons who needed to win by 15 points in order to secure a finals berth. And they asserted themselves from the get-go, leading at halftime 47-39 before extending it to 13, 78-65, heading to the final frame. The Magis Eagles though, relented and whittled the deficit down to five, 92-97, after two free throws by Mayol.