Sta. Clarita a win away from Mayor’s Cup title

ILOILO City – Santa Clarita International School Primes drew the first blood in the 2017 Iloilo City Invitational Basketball League ( Mayor’s Cup – 1st Conference) high school category best-of-three finals with an 89-76 win over CenterPhil Montessori.

John Bryan Sajonia led the way with 20 points for Primes, which can capture the high school category title if it makes a repeat victory over Silver Knights in Game 2, which was being played as of press time at the Barangay Katilingban gym in Molo district.

Primes set the tone early behind Sajonia, Ralph Bajon and Frank Tono for a 41-34 halftime edge on Tuesday. Santa Clarita went on with its tight defense in the second half to widen the lead further to as high as 13 points and never looked back.

n rt “I am glad that my players followed our game plan,” said Primes head coach Rodel Camacho. “But we cannot be complacent in Game 2 as we know that CenterPhil will make some adjustments. We will try to finish it off if we can.”

Meanwhile Game 2 of the best- of-three championship series in the college category between University of San Agustin (USA) and Central Philippine University (CPU) Golden Lions was halted late in the fourth quarter due to heavy rain.

USA was up by five points with over a minute left in the game when it was stopped as the basketball court turned wet. It was resumed late Wednesday night along with a do- or- die Game 3 if necessary.

Elsewhere, I l oilo Pros bagged the 40-and-up category championship by beating PISAI team, 98-79. Karam Maquiluna was adjudged the Finals MVP after scoring a team- high 32 points.

Iloilo Pros brought home P5,000, the same amount the college champ will get. The high school winner will receive P10,000./