MCS sets title duel versus Eucon

Mount Carmel School and Eucon International School arranged their championship showdown in the boys high school division of the 2014-2015 Coalition of Private School Sports Association Basketball League after earning contrasting wins against their respective semis opponents last Tuesday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Mt. Carmel School’s Tony Son soars high for a layup against Agape Christian School’s Grant Feng during the second quarter of their semis game in the boys high school division of the COPSSA caging last Tuesday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Eucon got a return trip ticket to the finals after pulling off a come-from-behind 48-39 win over Grace Christian Academy in the first semis match. Eucon won last year’s championship incidentally against the GCA Eagles, who faltered in their bid for a fifth straight crown after the Blazers notched a 58-50 triumph in the finale behind Allen Yu’s 27-point explosion.

Yu towed Eucon back to the finals this season as he anchored the team’s rally in the fourth quarter where GCA led by as much as 10 points before collapsing in the final half of the last period.

While Eucon rallied in the final quarter to save its season, the Knights dominated Agape Christian School right from the get-go en route to an easy 48-11 victory in the second semis pairing.

Mt. Carmel started the first six minutes of the match with a 10-0 run and kept going, as it maintained its safe distance the rest of the game with Agape failing to match the Knights’ production.

The Joe Diaz-mentored Agape finally lit up the board at the 1:56 mark of the first period off Allan Zhao’s layup, but that was the only basket the Torchbearers made in the entire canto, which ended with MCS ahead, 10-2. Agape had another 2-point output in the second quarter and again it came late in that period, while the Knights added 8 more to build a double-digit advantage after the first half, 18-4.

In the second half, the best that Agape could do was scored 5 markers off Zhao’s field goal and a split free throw and Caleb Wang’s deuce before it was held to another 2-point production in the fourth. In contrast, the Knights improved their offense in the second half, with four of their players combining for 10 in the third canto and six teaming up for 20 to finish off the hapless Agape.

William Camacho paced the Francis San Nicolas-coached Knights with his 7 points, while Jonah Hahn, Tony Son, Kenji Yamagata, and A.J. Evangelista combined for 22 more markers. Six other MCS players contributed at least one field goal apiece to their lopsided win.

MCS 48 – Camacho 7, Hahn 6, Son 6, Yamagata 5, Evangelista 5, Yun 4, Gamab 4, Toves 4, Muna 2, Lee 2, Jo 2, Deleon Guerrero 1.

Agape 11 – A. Zhao 5, Yete 2, Chen 2, Wang 2.

Scoring by quarters: 10-2, 18-4, 28-9, 48-11.