Cubs, Preps dispute title

San Beda College and University of the Philippines Integrated School thumped their respective rivals in overpowering fashion to arrange a duel of the NCAA and UAAP champions for the Sunkist Youth Basketball Championship crown at the Makati Coliseum yesterday.

The Red Cubs bucked a shaky start with a run-and-gun game in the second quarter as they beat the San Sebastian Staglets via an 81-55 rout, while the UP Preps dominated the Faith Academy quintet from start to finish and ran away with a 83-66 triumph in the other crossover semifinal game.

The lopsided victories all the more made the title showdown worth watching for as San Beda and UPIS clash for the crown, both unbeaten from the elims to the semis and both raring to prove which is the best high school team in the land today.

Gametime is set at 2:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the semifinal game between UPIS and Faith Academy will be shown at 2 p.m. today on NBN 4 while the battle for third place between San Sebastian and Faith to be aired tomorrow at 2 p.m. and the finals to be telecast at 9 p.m.

Admission is free with fabulous prizes to be drawn during halftime of the championship game.

The event, hosted by Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and the City of Makati, is organized by the Sports Vision Management Group, Inc. and sponsored by Sunkist. It is supported by Pagcor, Air Philippines, Purefoods Hotdogs, Molten, Alaska Milk, Agfa, Photoplus, Cebuana Lhuillier, Hapee Toothpaste, Tenderly, Accel, Petron and Burlington.

San Sebastian surprised San Beda in the early going, seizing a 12-11 lead after the first 10 minutes of play behind an 8-2 run. But that was the first and last time that the Staglets ever tasted the lead as the Red Cubs quickly buckled down to work and overran their rivals with their fluid offensive game anchored on a choking defense.

The Red Cubs greeted the Staglets with a big second quarter attack as Joseph Casio, Arvin Braganza and Claiford Arao took turns in pumping in those points while the rest backed them up with a stifling defense. In no time that San Beda raced to a 38-23 lead, padded it to 58-40 before taking the fight out of the Staglets with an even more fiery windup.

Unlike the Red Cubs, the UP Preps proved unforgiving and unrelenting on both sides of the court right from the start, building early leads of 21-9 and 42-19 before coasting through a trouble-free afternoon.

Marvin Cruz led the UP Preps’ charge with 33 points while Jacob Manlapaz and Jerome Aranas tossed in 14 and 10 points, hoping to play with the same intensity and firepower when they get to finally meet the Red Cubs in an all-important game.