Cage title caps NCR reign in Palaro

KORONADAL CITY — The National Capital Region capped its dominance by ruling the sport that mattered most – basketball – and clinched the overall title in the secondary level for the second year in a row as the 2007 Palarong Pambansa yesterday drew to a close at the South Cotabato Sports Complex here.

Arvie Bringas bulldozed his way to a game-high 23 points while Ryan Buenafe fired 22, including an inside stab with 13 seconds to go, giving the Big City bets an 86-85 win over Zamboanga Peninsula and their third straight basketball title.

The victory on the hardcourt highlighted NCR’s domination of this week-long tournament that would go back to Luzon next year.

"They were running and trapping us the whole game," said NCR coach Raymund Valenzona. "But we found a way to break their trap and win this game. And that’s all that matters."

The win more than made up for the heartbreaking defeats of NCR secondary girls’ volleyball, represented by Hope Christian School, to Central Luzon and the boys’ football to bitter rival Western Visayas.

The belles from Manila, drawing strength from Gizza Yumang, Kristel Rosale and Paulina Soriano, had a chance to snatch the gold after pulling off a grueling 23-25, 26-24, 25-27, 25-10, 15-8 triumph to erase Central Luzon’s twice-to-beat edge in the championship round.

But Central Luzon, led by the power-hitting Aileen Joy Banato, crawled back from a 20-24 deficit in the first set of the second game to post the gold-clinching 26-24, 25-21 win.

"We had our chances," said NCR coach Jerry Yee, whose wards had to play six games, including a preliminary loss to Central Luzon to make it to the finals.

"But I’m proud with the girls, they fought really hard," he added.

At the end of the day, NCR compiled a whopping total of 365.4 points—218.4 from the boys’ section and 147 from the girls’ side—to run away with its second straight overall title.

Western Visayas, relying on its wins in athletics, volleyball, softball and boys’ table tennis, finished at distant second with 218.5 points, followed by Southern Tagalog A, which was buoyed by its girl tankers to end up with 202 points.

While NCR continued to dominate basketball, Western Visayas remained the best football region in the land after pulling off a pair of pulsating wins—a 1-0 decision and a come-from-behind 2-1 win—against the former to take home the soccer gold for the third straight year.

Western Visayas cornered its third straight boys volleyball gold after it smashed Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, 25-12, 25-13, 25-19. Eastern Visayas took the bronze.

NCR ruled the elementary general championship after garnering 275 points, besting Western Visayas again after the latter finished with 236.5 points.

Completing the magic five were Central Visayas (135), Southern Tagalog A (130) and host Cotabato Region (127).

Rounding up the top 10 in the high school level were Central Luzon (122.9), Central Visayas (97), Cotabato (80), Davao Region (53.5), Ilocos (32.9), Zamboanga Peninsula (32) and Cordillera Administrative Region (28.5).

In boxing, Davao reigned supreme as it swept all five gold medals staked in the sport where the country has the best chance of snaring an elusive first Olympic gold.

Jonathan Tawan (light flyweight), Victor Saludar III (pin), Engelbert Moralde (paper), Ryan Lumacad (mosquito) and Mark Anthony Barige (powder) delivered the golden perfomance for Davao, which has strengthened its grass roots boxing program hoping to produce another Manny Pacquiao.

Meanwhile, its cage team trimmed Northern Mindanao, 81-61, to snare the bronze.