Mt. Carmel rallies past Agape in finale

Mt. Carmel School’s Matthew Ong stretches for a layup against Agape Christian School’s Tychicus Xu during the first quarter of their title game in the boys middle school division of the COPSSA caging last Friday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

It’s indeed Knights time.

Mt. Carmel School completed a sweep in the middle school division of the 2015-2016 Coalition of Private School Sports Association Basketball League as its boys squad pulled off a thrilling 40-38 title win against Agape Christian School last Friday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Earlier in the girls division, the Lady Knights eked out a 24-22 overtime victory in their championship match versus Saipan International School (see separate story).

Matthew Richardson made the dagger for Mt. Carmel in the boys’ finale, bringing the school’s supporters up on their feet as the squad managed to complete a come-from-behind win after being down by as much 18 in the first half.

The Knights fought back with their supporters, led by MCS principal Galvin De Leon Guerrero, rallying behind them. Deleon Guerrero and the throng of Mt. Carmel fans kept chanting “It’s Knights time” and coach Francis San Nicolas’ players responded in the second half with a nerve wracking victory, thanks to Richardson and Matthew Ong’s crucial play.

Ong did the inbound underneath the basket with 9 seconds remaining on the clock. Richardson then slid away from Agape players lining up for defense, received Ong’s pass, and found himself open for an 8-footer on the left shaded lane where players stand for the rebound play during a free throw shooting.

After Richardson’s basket, Haoyu Chen was forced to rush things as the clock was down to 5 seconds and Agape ran out of timeout, but his drive was too strong and just hit the board. Lue Xiong went for the offensive board, but the final buzzer sounded even before he could pull up for a outback.

Agape absorbed the sorry loss despite posting the biggest lead in the match at halftime, 28-10. Chen scored 13 points, while Tianrui Zhang added 10 in the first half to help the Torchbearers keep the double-digit lead.

Agape also took a twin-digit spread at the end of the first quarter, 19-6, after scoring 17 answered points in the opening canto, which Mt. Carmel started with a 4-0 advantage. Aven Evangelista knocked in the first 4 markers for the Knights, while Ong nailed the 2 other points.

Mt. Carmel continued to struggle offensively in the second frame before mounting a comeback in the third to bring the deficit down to one, 31-32. Evangelista led the uprising, as he sizzled for 11 points, while Dustin Salilin chipped in 5 points and Ong and Richardson tallied 2 and 3, respectively.

Agape, on the other hand, was held to 4 points off Tychicus Xu’s goal and Chen’s pair of charities, to cling to a one-point cushion, heading to the final canto.

It was a close game since then with Salilin, Ong, and Richardson delivering the baskets for Mt. Carmel to hand Agape its lone loss this season. Agape, which played without two of its key players (Dawei Cai and Frederic Guintu) was limited to two field goals in the fourth period with fatigue catching up on Chen. Chen had only one basket and went 1-for-6 from the foul line. Xu logged the other field goal for Agape.

MCS 40—Evangelista 17, Salilin 9, Ong 7, Richardson 7.

Agape 38— Chen 19, Zhang 10, T. Xu 6, Xiong 3.

Scoring by quarters: 19-6, 28-10, 32-31, 40-38.