Red Cubs secure entry in national secondary finals

LEGAZPI City — With its eyes set on a possible rematch with archival University of Visayas, San Beda College’s Red Cubs scored an emphatic 90-43 win over Ateneo de Davao’s Blue Knights to seal a return trip to the finals of the inter-secondary side of the National Students Basketball Championships before a huge crowd at the Albay Astrodome here.

The Red Cubs set the tone for the rout, racing to a 53-25 spread at the half, as Ford Arao, Jay Agbayani and Alvin Braganza consistently found their mark despite the Blue Knights’ tight zone defense.

The massacre continued in the third canto as the Red Cubs, last year’s runner-up in the tournament held in Roxas City, ignited a 12-3 run to pull away for good.

Another 19-4 blitz bridging the third and the fourth quarters gave the Red Cubs their biggest lead of the game at 50, 84-34, and San Beda and its multi-titled coach Ato Badolato were clearly on their way to the finals.

Already a proud owner of 10 inter-secondary titles, the Red Cubs will be eyeing an 11th crown against the Baby Lancers, the same team that beat them last year.

"Malakas ang kalaban. Hindi katulad ngayon na hindi kami masyadong nahirapan. We can not play this way in the finals, lalo na if we play UV, dahil kompleto rin sila ng tao," said Badolato, who has been coaching the Red Cubs for 30 years. Badolato was accompanied here by team managers Dilip Budhrani and Rajan Gidwani.

The UV Baby Lancers were still playing as of press time, but were highly favored to prevail over Iloilo Chinese Commercial High school in the other semifinal pair of another heavy schedule in the penultimate day of the tournament jointly organized by the Basketball Association of the Philippines and the province of Albay, under the auspices of Gov. Al Francis Bichara with support from Cebu Lhuillier, Healty Options, Baker’s Fair, Molten and Burlington.

Jay Agbayani led five other Red Cubs with double-digt scores with 20 points. Alvin Braganza had 12, while Joseph Casio and John Condevillamar added 11. Six-five center Ford Arao chipped in 10.

Kristofer Robles led Ateneo de Davao’s losing cause with 13, while Jordan rances had 10.

Meanwhile, the BAP board passed a resolution condoling with the family of the late BAP chairman Rep. Anotnio Abaya. It also decided not to name a chairman for the time being. The board also formally thanked Gov. Bichara for his all out support for the week-long tournament.