Santa Clarita beats BTTHS to take the title

By Jerome S. Galunan, Jr.

Santa Clarita International High School, based in the La Paz district of Iloilo City, recently beat Bacolod Tay Tung High School (BTTHS), 94-90, in the finals of the Dinagyang Mayor’s Cup basketball tournament at the Ledesco campus of the Hua Siong College of Iloilo (HSCI).

BTTHS earlier defeated the eventual champions, 95-71, in the elimination round.

“We really prepared for this game kasi tinambakan nila kami [in the elimination round] (We really prepared for this game since we lost [in the elimination round]),” said Santa Clarita head coach Rodel Camacho. “Sa lahat nung nakita naming naging problema nung game, sa offense and defense, trinabaho talaga namin dito sa finals (All of the problems we saw in that game, in offense and defense, we really worked on them for the finals).”

Ralph Bajon of Santa Clarita was named ‘Finals MVP’ and a member of the ‘Mythical 5,’ alongside teammate Marvin Cuerbo, Mark Nonoy of HSCI, Andre Chua of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC), and Harold Alarcon of BTTHS.

SHS-AdC, meanwhile, took third place, defeating HSCI, 71-66, in the consolation game./JSG, WDJ