DEFENDING champion Grace Christian College and Xavier School clinched the first two semis berths in the 45 and above division of the Fil-Chinese Athletic Association Inc. (FCAAI) on Monday at the Tanduay Gym in Quiapo, Manila.
Supported by Mintex and Fullercon, GCC banked on a torrid second-quarter assault to beat Uno High School, 70-58, thanks to the stellar performances of Allan Anson Tan and Albert Edsel Chua.
Xavier works overtime
While it was a breeze for the Graceans, the Xavier Golden Stallions, backed by A Prime Corp. and AcroCity, needed an extra five minutes to beat Caloocan’s Northern Rizal Yorklin School, 71-59.
Tan led the Graceans with 19 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, while Chua added 17 points highlighted by two triples.
GCC will next face either St. Stephen’s or St. Jude Catholic School in the semis of the 14-school event supported by Smart Sports, Tanduay Athletics, Genius Hardware, Ultraforce Tires, Cellboy, PGFlex Linoleum, Boysen, Lamtex Pipes, Jiang Nan, Hangry Pares, Powerhouse Tools, L.F. Fireworks, BYD Valenzuela, BAIC, Jetour, Yong Kee Roasting House, 1118 Autospa, and TCL.
Backed by Henderson and Ecooter, NRYS bungled the chance to score the biggest win of the tournament after a visibly tired Henry Chua missed two gift shots with barely 4 seconds left, giving Xavier a new lease on life.
Eldridge Liao made sure there would be no more scary moments in the overtime period by scoring back-to-back baskets right away. Those baskets proved big enough to take the fight out of NRYS, which went scoreless the rest of the way.
Xavier, which drew 18 points from Liao, 13 from Michael Chua and 12 from Gretch Go, will face either Chiang Kai Shek College or St. Peter The Apostle-MetroAsia in the semis.
Chua paced NRYS with 27 points spiked by six triples in more than 40 minutes of action.
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