SHS-Ateneo opens title defense with win over Xavier School

SAN JUAN, Philippines   — Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) kicked off its defense of its national Passerelle championship with a 69-58 win over Xavier School of San Juan in the national finals of the BEST SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament 2011 at the Jacinto Tiu Competition Court at the Xavier School.

In a rematch of the 2010 finals, SHS-AdC started out cold and tentative as Xavier School took the upper hand in the first quarter, streaking to a 7-0 run before taking a 13-10 lead.

SHS-AdC started to take control of the game in the second period as Jair Igna, Jarek Mercado and Bro Catan combined to give the Magis Eagles a 37-22 lead at halftime.

The momentum was sustained in the third period as the team also contained Xavier’s prolific scorer Jarrel Lim.

Xavier managed to cut the lead down to seven points on two occasions, the last at 42-49 on a Lim triple.

But SHS-AdC answered with a 10-2 run to take a 59-44 lead into the fourth quarter. Xavier would make one more push to cut the lead in the fourth quarter, but could get only as close as 10 points at 55-65 with 2:37 left in the game.

Rendell Senining closed out the game with four straight free throws. Dave Yu and Bro Catan led the Magis Eagles with 10 points each while Mercado and Rendell Senining added nine each.

Jarrel Lim led Xavier 15 points while Chang Ji Hung added 10.

SHS-AdC next faces Guagua National Colleges (GNC), which bowed to beat Holy Child School (HCS) of Davao, 47-56 in the other Passerelle game.

A win would give the team at least a tie for a slot in the championship.

In the SBP division, NCR champion Lourdes School of Mandaluyong topped Ateneo de Davao, 74-27.