MANILA, Philippines - Reigning titlist Chiang Kai Shek College held off Xavier School to carve out a 70-67 victory to move within a win from a first round elims sweep in the 43rd Metro Manila Tiong Lian Basketball Association-BonChon Chicken Championship at the CKSC gym in Manila last Tuesday.
The Blue Dragons leaned on the game-long brilliance of Jeremy Gallemit and Kimlee Bayquin to frustrate the Xavier cagers in a game marked by several lead changes and notch their fourth straight win in the six-team tournament presented by BonChon Chicken.
Gallemit fired 22 points behind an impressive 9-of-13 shooting while Bayquin chipped in 13 markers, including two pressure-packed charities that gave CKSC a 70-67 lead with 24.9 seconds left in the contest.
The Golden Stallions had two chances to send the game into overtime but Jarrell Lim and Anton Lapez bungled their respective three-point attempts.
With the loss, Xavier slipped to 2-1, the same record of host St. Stephen’s High School which drew an inspired performance from Pierce Tyrone Chan to beat Grace Christian College, 73-61, last Sunday.
In his best game so far, Chan finished in double-double by tallying 21 points and 16 boards. He also posted five assists, three steals and three blocks to become the first player in league history to dish out decent numbers in five departments.
Meantime, Hope Christian High School vented its ire on St. Jude Catholic School, 98-37, to improve its record to 2-2 in the event backed by Solar BTV, Molten and Summit Water. Hope Christian was coming off a heart-rending 71-66 overtime loss to the Golden Stallions.
Meantime, CKSC completed a three-game sweep in the Aspirants division by downing SSHS, 72-40, while Xavier finished with a 2-1 record by beating GCC, 67-43.