Eagles claim boys championship

Grace Christian Academy Eagles came up big in overtime, thumping powerhouse Mt. Carmel Knights to bag the boys championship of the 2006 Private School Basketball League, 59-52, yesterday at the Calvary Christian Academy Basketball Court.

With regulation ending at 49-all and the overtime period unable to be played because of darkness Friday, both teams met again at center court for the extra five minutes beginning at 4pm yesterday, four days after the championship game started.

The rest proved most beneficial for GCA, as they immediately jumped the gun on the Knights.

After center Joseph Jung won the tap, guard Sean Sablan scooted for what appeared to be an uncontested layup, but hotshot Kevin De Leon of GCA came out from nowhere to swat away the attempt.

The first play of overtime proved to be a portent of things to come, as David Javier put GCA on the scoreboard first with a layup.

Several possessions later the Knights’ own David put them on the scoreboard, as David Kautz knotted the count at 51-all with a little over three minutes left in OT.

But Kautz’s putback proved to the team’s final field goal, as De Leon sandwiched a lone free throw by Kautz with a couple of strong drives to give GCA a 55-52 advantage with only two minutes remaining on the game clock.

Mt. Carmel had a golden opportunity to come closer in their next possession, but Sablan’s 3-pointer was waved off after one of the Knights’ big men was caught with a 3-second violation.

Javier and regulation hero Jimmy Phan—who tied the game Friday on a flip from 14 feet—then completed the finishing touches, scoring on two separate occasions, as GCA pulled away for the seven-point win.

It was a disappointing loss for Mt. Carmel to say the least. As reported earlier, the Knights took control of the ballgame early and took a 15-9 spread after the first quarter.

De Leon, however, led GCA back in the second by scoring 12 points, as the Eagles outscored Mt. Carmel, 17-9, to enter the halftime break with a 26-24 lead.

The seesaw ballgame continued in the third quarter with both teams knocking in eight points apiece that led to GCA maintaining its two-point spread, 34-32.

The game appeared headed to a classic finish before the players’ inability to see the court, teammates, and the rim resulted in countless turnovers and badly missed shots.

It was to the Eagles’ and Knights’ credit that they scored at all in the game’s final three minutes with the condition of the venue, which necessitated the game being reset to yesterday.

De Leon fired a game-high 30 points to lead GCA, while Javier and Phan tossed in eight and six points, respectively. Twin towers Jung and Kautz finished with 11 points each to pace Mt. Carmel.

GCA 59 – De Leon 30, Javier 8, Phan 6, Magday 4, Sarmiento 3, Teves 2.

Mt. Carmel 52 – Jung 11, Kautz 11, Kim 6, Sablan 5, Pangelinan 5, Camacho 4, Sers Nicholas 4, Roberto 2, Villagomez 2, Yang 2.

Scoring by quarters: 9-15, 26-24, 34-32, 49-49, 59-52, OT.