By ADRIAN STEWART CO

St. Robert’s International Academy Panda Rockets-Elite Lab settled for a runner-up finish in the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) Regional Championship held at the Willy and Nolita Au Court of Bacolod Tay Tung High School over the weekend.

The Iloilo City-based Panda Rockets fell short of ruling the Visayas leg qualifiers after suffering a 62-57 defeat to Cebu’s Khalifa-University of San Jose-Recoletos in the finals.

The John Guanco-mentored Panda Rockets actually had a strong start as they quickly established a double-digit lead, but Khalifa leaned on the hot hands of Peter John Peteros as they surged to a 32-29 halftime lead.

Peteros then teamed up with John Nethan dela Torre in the third quarter as the Cebuanos continued their offensive aggression to build a 53-44 lead heading into the final frame.

However, the Panda Rockets did not give up as they cut the deficit to 52-53 with five minutes left before Khalifa unloaded a 10-4 scoring blast capped by a three-pointer from Vince Oring to clinch the crown.

Leading the way for the Panda Rockets team are Luis Michael Sitchon, Michsan Rhaey Oñate, JP Gaspillo, Prinz Jurisprudencia, Nicholas John Ditchon, Ej Secorata, and Paul Jovan Santome.

Completing the St. Robert’s team are Edrian Aguirre, Kyle Sardon, Glenn Lazaro, Andrie Padilla, Rex Demafilis, Karl Alfred Ferrer, Justin Cargo, and Rengie Ecarma.

“We fell short of the championship, but I am proud of the effort shown by my players,” Panda Rockets team manager Eugene Chua said.

“Playing consecutive games in three days is not easy,” he said.

“However, I am happy because we were able to earn a slot to the NBTC National Finals, and the players are very excited for the opportunity to play against the top teams in Metro Manila,” he added.

Aside from the Panda Rockets and Khalifa, also earning a slot to the NBTC National Finals are Trinity Christian School-Davies Paint/El Tzino and UNBL-Don Bosco of Dumaguete./ASC, WDJ