Iloilo City school completes comeback win

By Adrian Stewart Co

Santa Clarita International School Inc. of Iloilo City battled back from 17 points down to defeat Zamboanga del Sur National High School of Pagadian City, 99-88, in the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) National Finals seeding round earlier this week at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Ralph Bajon top-scored the Ilonggo side with 33 points, two rebounds, and three steals; while Franc Steven Tono and Jemar Cepriano added 19 and 17 markers, respectively.

The team from Iloilo City struggled in the opening quarter and went down by as much as 17 points. However, they managed to trim the deficit to 46-42 at the half on inside conversions from Bajon.

The Pagadian City school regained their form in the third quarter and built a double-digit lead.

Following another run by the Iloilo City side, the team from Zamboanga del Sur pulled away anew by 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Santa Clarita International School then went on to dominate the latter half of the fourth period behind Tono, Cepriano, and Wilmer Dalumpines to turn things around and building a lead by as much as 11 points.

With the victory, the Iloilo City squad clinched the No. 26 seed in the competition and will battle fourth-ranked University of San Jose-Recoletos of Cebu City in the Round of 32 next week, March 26./ASC, WDJ