STI College Santa Rosa posts 2nd win

Aliparo for three! 

2017 STI NBT MVP June Aliparo is a marked man.  Having been one of the most prolific scorers in the STI National Basketabll Tournament, all teams know his ability to light up the score board. Although STI College Santa Rosa is hard to beat with him in full blossom, the defending champs showed that they can still win big with their other big guns. STI College Santa Rosa beat STI College Koronadal 72 – 49 and virtually shut down the door for the Mindanao champions to enter the round of 4. The second win of STI College Santa Rosa put them straight to the cross-over semifinals and will just wait who they will face in the next two days to determine the best STI basketball team nationwide.

Libdan scores off this drive 

Just like their first game, the Santa Rosa offense was not quite in its normal phase. Although Jan Almoro and Al Karamihan got things started for the Santa Rosa team, the game was progressing in such a slow pace.   June Aliparo started with two missed three pointers but when he found the mark STI College Santa Rosa suddenly erupted and took the first quarter 15 – 9. As mentioned, a slow starting and slow pace for the defending champs who had to look for ways to find the crease in the very physical Koronadal defense.

Caguisano's shooting was superb

STI College Koronadal had a hard time starting for the second straight game but they still managed to stand toe to toe against the team from Laguna in the early going. Playing their last year of eligibility, the trio of Bernard Caguisano Jr., Paulo Soliva and Dan Libdan carried the fight for the Mindanao champions. Unfortunately, they were met by stiff opposition and was just a shadow of their old team that got third place three years ago the first quarter. When STI College Santa Rosa’s offense picked-up the Mindanao champs were left behind. 

Lugar had another good game today

Coach Leo Callado managed to shuffle his boys with much ease as his second team composed of Kent Fabic and rookies Airon Lugar, Kim Galamiton and Jdvin Ramos outscored their counterparts 37 – 13 which more than echoed the balance that the defending champions have. Lugar came off the bench to score 10 points while Galamiton had solid contributions of 7 points and eight rebounds.

Ramos floats for the two 

When the second quarter started, it was time for Santa Rosa basketball to take charge as the team from Laguna outscored their opponents 44 – 27 in the middle quarters that made the fourth quarter moot and academic. June Aliparo played for just 17 minutes and scored 10 points but  more than his scoring, his leadership and defense carried their team closer to their goal of being the first team to win back to back NBT crowns. 

Almoro scores on a floater

To view the complete stats of the game kindly click the link below.
http://www.fibalivestats.com/u/STINBT/866643/pbp.html