STI College Santa Rosa poised to sweep the league

The STI College Global City basketball team succeeded in limiting defending champion STI College Santa Rosa to 71 points because the last time the two teams met the Santa Rosa based cagers scored at will and ended up scoring 89 points. This time the defense of the home squad was adequate. As mentioned, if their defense was adequate their offense was very anemic as the Santa Rosa defense worked overtime to limit the Global CIty squad to 53 points. The win was the eighth straight by the defending champions as they prepare to sweep the league.

Rookie Guards Nikko Naraga and Ruzzel Parala led the charge for the laguna based cagers as Naraga was all business on the fastbreak while Parala rained threes. MVP candidates Aries Santos and Richmond Reyes added 12 and 10 points respectively as the defending champs are back in the finals with this win. With the loss, STI College Global City is one game behind STI College Balagtas who the defending champs will meet next week.

STI College Balagtas on the other hand leaned on the mutt and jeff tandem of Cruz and Pascualas the duo scored 18 and 14 points respectively to beat a hard fighting STI College Quezon Avenue team 68 - 62. Junior Olympian point guard Charlon Untalan came off the bench to score 22 points to pace the Quezon Ave squad which fought toe to toe against their Bulacan based foes but unfortunately lost steam in the end game. An oh so familiar story for the Quezon Avenue dribblers for the third straight year. The loss eliminated them from finals play.

STI COLLEGE SANTA ROSA (71)

Naraga 17, Parala 15, Santos 12, Reyes 10, Ferrer 7, Maunahan 6, Sayao 3, Arzola 2, Garamiton 1, Jaspe 0, Mamaed 0

STI COLLEGE GLOBAL CITY (53)

W. Sultan 15, Avila 13, Becares 4, Acuna 4, Manalad 4, Lontoc 3, Reyes 3, Magsalos 3, Sarmiento 3, Lagrimas 2, Jimenez 0, de Belen 0

Quarterscores: 23 - 10, 45 - 22, 59 - 36, 71 - 53

SECOND GAME

STI COLLEGE BALAGTAS (68)

Cruz 18, Pascual 14, dela Cruz 10, Ablaza 6, Crisostomo 6, J. Leguin 5, Baliclic 4, Macapagal 3, Hernandez 2, Q. Leguin 0

STI COLLEGE QUEZON AVE. (62)

Untalan 22, Daclitan 15, Magistrado 10, Jamero 7, Zabala 6, Ubeda 2, Cervantes 0, Aguilar 0, Magno 0

Quartesecores: 18 - 15, 37 - 31, 53 - 46, 68 - 62