STI College Santa Rosa settles for 3rd place

June Aliparo scores a three

STI College Santa Rosa came back in its final game with a win against the hard fighting Mindanao champion STI College Koronadal 60 – 57.   June Aliparo came back from his subpar performance in the cross-over semifinals to lead the Laguna dribblers by scoring 27 points after being held to 18 the other day. After their horrible loss the other day, the STI College Santa Rosa team redeemed themselves by winning third place.

Norman Puerto led the Koronadal attack

In the first half, both teams fought on equal footing with neither team leading by more than six points. Both teams were tied at the first quarter with June Aliparo leading the Santa Rosa team and Norman Puerto leading the Koronadal scoring in the first quarter. In the 2^nd quarter June Aliparo waxed hot as he scored eleven of the fifteen points of the Santa Rosa quintet. Norman Puerto would pace Koronadal as they trailed their opponents 31 – 27 at the end of the half.

Addis Lizen drives to the hoop

STI College Santa Rosa used their team game in the third quarter with almost everyone chipping in. With eight minutes left, the foursome of June Aliparo, Addis Lizen, Bryan Ursua and Raul Guerrero dropped a 10 – 4 bomb that transformed their precarious 33 – 29 lead to a bigger 43 – 33 lead with three minutes left in the quarter. STI College Koronadal sued for time, regrouped and answered with a 9 – 0 blast of their own to stay within striking distance as the quarter ended with Santa Rosa still on top 43 – 42.

Bryanth Ursua scores on the fastbreak

With both teams playing superb defense, STI College Santa Rosa eventually found the crease in the Koronadal defense in the waning minutes of the game. With the score tied at 51 – all with 4:11 left in the game, Aliparo, Ursua, Lizen and Guerrero would once again weave their magic and score on an 9 – 0 run to give the Laguna dribblers a nine point lead  with 51 seconds left. STI College Koronadal’s last ditch effort to salvage the game fell short and STI College Santa Rosa hung tough to score that  60 – 57 win. 

Bernard Caguisano Jr. scores on this jumper

June Aliparo made up from his so-so performance the other day by scoring a game high 27 points on 7 of 12 (58.33%) shooting. Norman Puerto and Cris Valencia led the Koronadal team with 18 and 12 points respectively.  STI College Koronadal placed 4^th also last year. Once again the top four teams in the STI National Basketball Tournament was well represented by the three regions of the country.

Kim Ibbara drives to the basket

The scores:

STI COLLEGE SANTA ROSA (60)

Aliparo 27, Romualdo 8, Guerrero 6, Ursua 6, Fabic 4, Lizen 4, Hercia Jes. 3, Ibbara 2, Adato 0, Hercia Jer. 0, Romero 0,

STI COLLEGE KORONADAL (57)

Puerto 18, Valencia 12, Caguisano B. 7, Morte 5, Famulag 4, Libdan 4, Sulit 4, Soliva 2, Ignacio 1, Caguisano J. 0, Castillo 0, Lopez 0

Quarter scores:

16 – 14, 31 – 27, 44 – 43, 60 - 57