Junior Olympians beat Junior Titans

Romano on the drive

Good things come to those who wait. The STI College Junior Olympians finally beat the AMA Junior Titans 75 – 62 in a game of unbeaten teams at the resumption of the 12th NAASCU Juniors Basketball tournament. Since joining the Juniors division back in 2009, the Junior Olympians have never beaten their fierce Junior rivals and today was the day for redemption for the Junior Olympians as they worked out a sizeable lead in the first half and quelled all rallies made by the Junior Titans.

Aquino scores the after the jumpball

Finally getting an opponent that matches up with them the Junior Olympians scored only 17 first quarter points, the least they have scored since torching New Era with 39 points and Trace with 30 first quarter points.  The Junior Titans were active on defense but the Junior Olympians still found ways to puncture the hoops as Patrick Aquino scored whenever it was needed for him to get to the paint and add to the Junior Olympians lead.

Detubio eludes his defender

The Junior Olympians worked their pressure defense to perfection once again and forced their opponents to turn the ball over. This was eventually translated to lay ups and fastbreaks that led to a 33 – 23 first half lead. The Junior Olympians offense finally came to town in the third quarter as they erupted for 23 points after being limited to 17 and 16 in the first half.  Every Junior Olympian sent in by Coach Hubert delos Santos contributed with Patrick Aquino on the firing end. The Junior Titans came back in the fourth quarter but it was already to late as the Global City squad notched their third straight win.

 Silverie on the lay up

What was visibly missing was the three point shooting of the Junior Olympians with Jim Lontoc, Erven Silverie and Arvin Detubio finding it hard to puncture the hoop from outside.  But then again, being the veteran team that they are the three eventually found ways to score. Aquino topscored once again with 19 points while Silverie had 12 points.  

 Lontoc hits the jumper

The scores:

STI COLLEGE (75)

Aquino 19, Silverie 12, Lontoc 9, Detubio 8, Parinas 6, Raymundo 5, Ngolong 4, Romano  4, , Napenas 4, Pangilinan 4, Baquiran 0, Justiniani 0, Jimenez 0.

AMA (62)

Borlogdan 18, Bragais 10, Concepcion 9, Quijano 8, Balili 6, Aquino 5, Pascua 4, Palogan 2, De vera 1, Roberto 0, Pipin 0.

Quarterscores: 17 - 12, 33 - 23, 56 - 38, 75 - 62.