Agape dethrones Mt. Carmel

Agape Christian School’s Tychicus Xu, left, and Mt. Carmel School’s Vince Salvador battle for possession during the fourth quarter of their title game in the boys middle school division of the private school caging yesterday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

It’s payback time for Agape Christian School.

Agape avenged its finals loss to Mt. Carmel School last season following a 31-19 victory in the boys middle school title game in the 2016-2017 Commonwealth Coalition of Private School Association Basketball League yesterday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

The Torchbearers held the Knights scoreless in the fourth quarter and to 4 points in the entire second half to earn the championships that eluded Agape last year after Mt. Carmel overhauled an 18-point deficit and pulled off a 40-38 victory.

“It feels great to get this year’s title and win our rematch against Mt. Carmel,” said Agape coach Noel Puno. “The boys played great defense in the second half, especially Mac Guintu.”

Guintu hounded MCS gunner James San Nicolas all throughout the game and the latter ended up without a field goal and scored only two free throws in the first quarter.

“Our game plan was really to limit San Nicolas’ production. I told Mac to guard him with or without the ball,” Puno said.

Guintu played without relief, following San Nicolas right from the backcourt and fighting down screens from the latter’s teammates. With Guintu’s leech-like defense, San Nicolas had limited touches and when he was able to have possession on a couple of occasions, he was not squared off for the shots he took and missed as other Agape defenders were there to challenge the attempts. Guintu went on to put the finishing touches in Agape’s victory after hitting a triple in the closing seconds of the match—his lone field goal in the finals.

While Guintu anchored Agape’s defense, it was Yang Chenxuan who led the Torchbearers’ offense after firing a game-high 18 points. He nailed all of Agape’s 7 points in the third quarter, helping his team open a 21-15 advantage.

The Knights was stuck to 15 points for a while and had its first field goal in the second half at the 1:15 mark of the third canto off Juan Guerrero’s bank shot. Vince Salvador then made a layup with under a minute left in the penultimate frame to move Mt. Carmel within 2, 19-21.

Salvador’s field goal turned out to be the Knights’ last, as they either turned the ball over or Agape read Mt. Carmel’s passing lanes well and intercepted the ball. Big man Tychicus Xu used his long arms to deflect a couple of the Knights’ passes and he also stood his ground against Mt. Carmel’s frontliners in the rebound plays.

Tychicus contributed 4 points, matching his brother Silas’ output, while Bao Heng completed Agape’s box scores, adding 2.

Merrick Toves paced Mt. Carmel with his 6 points—all were made in the first half—as he saw limited minutes in the second and did not play in the entire fourth quarter. Aldraine Galang chipped in 5, which also came in the first half, while Mark Kapileo, San Nicolas, Guerrero, and Salvador had 2 apiece.

It was a sorry loss for the Knights, as they were undefeated going into the finals. Agape was also unbeaten in the 2015-2016 season before facing Mt. Carmel in the title duel.

Agape 31 – Chengxuan 18, S. Xu 4, T, Xu 4, Guintu 3, Heng 2.

MCS 19 – Toves 6, Galang 5, Kapileo 2, San Nicolas 2, Salvador 2, Guerrero 2.

Scoring by quarters: 7-7, 14-15, 21-19, 31-19.