GCC blasts SPAS to draw first blood in FCCAI Finals
MANILA, Philippines — Grace Christian College used a well-balanced attack and demolished St. Peter the Apostle School, 89-52, to move on the threshold of joining an elite club of back-to-back champions in the Fil-Chinese Athletic Association Inc. (FCAAI) Basketball Tournament on Friday, October 23, at the Tanduay Gym in Quiapo, Manila.
With eight of the 16 players fielded by coach Danny Ching scoring eight points or more, the Graceans turned what was expected to be a tight 45-and-above division final series into a rout as they started like a well-oiled machine by racing to an 25-14 lead.
Backed by Metro Asia and Manila Bulletin, SPAS fought valiantly, but GCC refused to give an inch, as it event intensified its onslaught in the next two quarters to post a commanding 70- 39 lead going into the final 10 minutes of play.
That was enough for the Graceans to take fight out of the SPAS cagers in the opener of their best-of-three title series.
Another win on Monday, October 26, will enable GCC to retain its title and join the James Yap-led Hua Siong College of Iloilo as the league’s first back-to-back champion schools.
Meantime, Xavier School, backed by A Prime Corp. and AcroCity, clinched third place by downing St. Jude Catholic School, 49-36.
Allan Anson Tan and Patrick Jason Lim shared the scoring honors for the Mintex and Fullercon-sponsored GCC with 14 points each with Jeffrey Vincent Chua adding 11, while Johannes Kevin Go, Cloyd Anthony Ong, and Alexander Lao combined for 25 points.
Hua Siong earlier kept its 40-and-above title by beating Xavier School, while Hope Christian High School made history by winning the inaugural 35-and-above and 50-and-above division titles.
The Graceans played inspired basketball as they shot well from afar, banging in nine triples, with Go and Ong contributing three apiece. Only Adornado Lim failed to score for GCC, but distinguished himself by making five beautiful assists and grabbing a rebound in nine minutes of play.
Kerby Chua paced SPAS with 14. while Nestor Ng and Adjong Wong finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively. (Pool story)
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