AS expected, St. Stephen’s Cellboy and Xavier-McDavid x Windsor drubbed their respective rivals to jumpstart their title bids in the 30-39 years-old division of the Smart Sports Fil-Chinese Athletic Association Inc. presented by Tanduay Athletics at the Tanduay gym in Quiapo, Manila.
Drawing big games from Kish Co and Lawrence Wu, St. Stephen’s downed Uno High- Golden Peters, 82-59, while Xavier leaned heavily on Gab Banal’s solid all-around game and Charles Tiu’s creative plays to clobber Philippine Cultural College-Alva Lighting, 97-69.
Banal double-double
Living up to his status, Co tallied a double-double of 22 points and 15 boards plus four assists, while Wu scattered three triples on the way to a 19-point output in the tournament backed by Genius Hardware, Ultraforce Tires, Cellboy, PGFlex Linoleum, Boysen, Lamtex Pipes, Jiang Nan, Hangry Pares, Powerhouse Tools, L.F. Fireworks, BYD Valenzuela, BAIC, Jetour, Oedo, 1118 Autospa, and TCL
Vince Revillosa and Eric Gotauco paced Uno High with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
A former MPBL MVP, Banal finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds, while Tiu, who will now call the shots for Phoenix in the PBA, was 1-of-3 from the trifectaville but finished with 12 assists in just 18 minutes of play.
Antonio Sy and Clabert Teng led PCC with 20 and 13 points, respectively.
Also getting off to a rousing start was St. Jude-Duralite, which overwhelmed Tiong Se Academy-Alpha 7, 72-49, in the lone 50-years-and-above division match.
Christopher Co topscored for St. Jude with 15 points, while Louie Kaw and Julian Dychauco chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Achit Kaw, perhaps the oldest at 74, shared the scoring honors with Quincy Tan after both finished with 10 points.
Meanwhile, the league, which is also being supported by Abby’s Pawns n’ Play, Sha Tin Courtyard, S-Ks Tools, MEC, Shell Granda, Oriental Palace, LP Support, Senco Link, Spalding, Summit Mineral Water, Sincerity Café, PSACC, Traverse and Emerson Industrial Supply, will have its opening ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 8, at the Amoranto Sports Complex.
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