Christian So scored six straight points down the stretch as Grace Christian College surprised UNO High School, 77-70, and gained a piece of the early lead in the 39th Yakult Metro Manila Tiong Lian Basketball Association (MMTBA) Championship Wednesday at the UNO High School gym.
Grace Christian nearly squandered a 20-point lead in the third quarter as UNO High School rallied to within 63-68 midway in the fourth through the efforts of Mark Chua and Michael Reyes.
But So doused cold water on UNO High cagers as he strung up six points that all but took the fight out of their opponents in the annual event sponsored by Rusty Lopez, Converse, Puma, Davies Paint, FG Jeans, Burlington, MEC Computer, Healthy Options, Outlast and PG Flex Linoleum
With the win, Grace Christian tied defending champion Xavier School and St. Jude Catholic School for the lead.
In the other game, St. Stephen’s bounced back from a stinging 67-68 loss to St. Jude in the opener last Saturday by downing Hope Christian College, 67-65, through the heroics of Clyde Aparicio and Paolo Chan.