By ADRIAN STEWART CO

Trinity Christian School-Davies Paint/El Tzino and St. Robert’s International Academy Panda Rockets-Elite Lab have earned their slots in the 2024 Smart-NBTC National Finals to be held in Manila.

Trinity Christian School-Davies Paint/El Tzino of Central Negros advanced to the Final Four with a lopsided 78-65 victory over Talisay Notre Dame in their knockout quarterfinals match at the Willy and Nolita Au Court of Bacolod Tay Tung High School.

John Loyd Martinez, the frontrunner for the qualifying leg’s Most Outstanding Player, was at the forefront of offense for Trinity-Davies, while he got the needed support from Austin John Braganza.

The Panda Rockets of Iloilo also secured their place in the national finals following a 72-48 victory over the Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts in the quarterfinals round.

Justin Rafael Cargo and Rengie Ecarma spearheaded the offense for the John Guanco-mentored and Eugene Chua-managed Panda Rockets to move on to the semifinals round.

“It is a huge achievement for us to earn a seat in the Smart-NBTC National Finals, but we will still try to emerge as champions here in the NBTC Visayas qualifying leg,” Chua said.

Completing the four schools that qualified from the NBTC Visayas Regional Championship are Cebu’s Khalifa-ANS Sports and the UNBL-Don Bosco Greywolves of Dumaguete.

Khalifa-ANS Sports relied on the hot hands of Judd Kyle Rueda and Peter John Peteros as they scored a 63-75 beating of the STI-West Negros University Mustangs in the round-of-eight.

Emmanuel Catalan was the only player in double-digits for UNBL-Don Bosco, and it was defense that pushed and kept the Greywolves ahead en route to a 54-40 decision over the Municipality of Pontevedra.

After the last day of the Visayas Regional Championships hosted by the Negros Occidental provincial government and Governor Bong Lacson, the South Luzon RC in Lucena City (March 1 to 3) will follow suit./ASC, WDJ