Xavier faces St. Jude in finals

MANILA, Philippines - St. Jude Catholic School booked a return trip to the finals by beating Hope Christian High School, 75-70, in their knockout match in the Freego Metro Manila Tiong Lian Basketball tournament Friday at the Chiang Kai Shek gym.

With Kim Lo at the firing end, St. Jude came through with a decisive run midway in the final quarter to take the fight out of Hope Christian and earn the right to face Xavier School in the finals of the event presented by Fresh Gear Revolution Denim.

The best-of-three finals rematch, which features the No. 1 seed against the No. 2 seed, will start on Monday at 6 p.m. at the Jacinto Tiu Competition Court in the Xavier School campus.

Game Two will be played on Thursday at the Chiang Kai Shek gym in Tondo, Manila. If necessary, the third game will be held on Saturday also at the CKSC gym.

Lo had 21 points and 13 rebounds while Derrence Lam and Jason Ligad chipped in 17 and 10 points, respectively, in the event backed by Fern-C, 100 Plus Isotonic Sports Drink, Outlast Battery, Rusty Lopez, Puma, Converse, Burlington, Davis Paint, MEC Computer, Molten, Bantex Sandals and Bow & Wow, the Natural Pets Food Store.

The Golden Stallions are gunning for their seventh title this decade while St. Jude is hoping to win its first-ever crown in the tournament.

The Jonathan “Budds” Reyes-coached Golden Stallions, who romped away with the crown in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008 and 2009, are also bidding to become the second school in Tiong Lian history to register a “three-peat” twice. Chiang Kai Shek College, the winningest team ever with 14 titles, won three in a row from 1978 and from 1990-92.