By Jerome S. Galunan Jr.

Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts survived University of St. La Salle Baby Stingers on a last minute run, 56-53, to take home the 12 & Under division title of the 1st Congressman Greg Gasataya Basketball League, yesterday, at the STI-West Negros University gym.
Thunderbolts’ solid defense under 9 seconds left in the game pushed the Baby Stingers to the corner with no open shot available as the clock expired.
With 13 seconds left in the fourth, eventual MVP John Ordas completed 2 important free throws, of his total 20 points, after picking a foul on a loose ball play off a split charity by his teammate Kenth John Ricanda.
The Renato ‘Atoy’ Callora-mentored Tay Tung squad led the game, 20-12, in the opening quarter behind Marvin delos Santos’ 7 points and Ordas’ 5, while Emmanuel Gabriel Ortiz and Andrei Lawrence Kaabay delivered 3 points apiece for John Philip Villanueva’s La Salle ward.
Tay Tung continued their dominance in the second period to book a 35-23 advantage at the break, with Ordas and delos Santos combining for 11 points.
However, the Baby Stingers fought hard in the third behind the balanced offense from Kent Navarro, Kaabay and Ortiz with a combined 12 points on a 16-10 run – cutting Thunderbolts’ lead to 45-39 going to the playoff period.
La Salle slowly trimmed the lead to force a 49-all deadlock with under 2 minutes of play. A foul by Mike Lebron Estelloso on Ortiz at the rainbow territory sent the La Sallian to the stripe where he completed 3 free throws, and gave his team a 53-52 advantage – as well as their last basket of the game.
Backstopping Ordas of Tay Tung were Delos Santos with 13 points, Thomas Pillado – 9, and Ricanda and Estelloso – 6 apiece.
Ortiz also had 20 points for La Salle; Allan Joseph Banas added 10; Navarro – 7; and Jhon Ryan Mondano – 6.
Named into the Mythical Five were Tay Tung’s delos Santos and Estelloso, La Salle’s Ortiz and Kaabay, and Christian Jacob Yap of St. John’s Institute.
Tay Tung went home with a P10,000 cash prize while first runner-up La Salle got P7,000 and second runner-up SJI received P7,000. All teams were awarded trophies and medals./WDJ