MANILA, Philippines — National University and La Salle Greenhills set a winner-take-all match for the seventh Philippine Secondary Schools Basketball Championship ‘Rain or Shine Cup’ by downing their respective semis rivals on Wednesday at the SGS gym in Quezon City.
The NU Bullpups rode high on a 30-point explosion in the second quarter to dethrone the San Beda Red Cubs, 89-78, and advance to the final of the event dubbed “Battle of Champions” for the first time.
The Greenies, whose bid for back-to-back championships in the NCAA was denied by Malayan University (Mapua) recently, also earned their first final appearance following a 72-66 win over the Far Eastern U Baby Tamaraws.
“It’s UAAP versus NCAA so I’m sure it’s going to be an exciting finale,” said league chairman Terry Que of Rain or Shine. “No wonder NU is doing well in the UAAP while La Salle has lived up to its status as one of the premier high school teams in the country.”
The champion team, according to league vice chairman Eduard Tio, gets P50,000 while the runner-up receives P30,000 in the event also bankrolled by Poly Gloss, Freego, Dickies Underwear, Hapee Toothpaste, IronCon Builders, MEC Networks, Blackwater Sports, and Che’Lu Bar and Grill.
NU leaned heavily on the splendid performance of wily guard Cyril Rey Gonzales to deny the Red Cubs a second straight and fourth overall final appearance.
Toughened bythe team’s successful title conquest in the ASEAN School Games last August, Gonzales led all NU scorers with 22 points aside from posting five boards, three assists and the same number of steals in 30 minutes of action.