LPU, Italy advance to NBTC Division 2 semis

MANILA, Philippines – Lyceum of the Philippines University of Cavite and Proud Pinoy Italy hurdled separate foes to book semifinals slots in the Division 2 playoffs of the Chooks to Go NBTC National Finals at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The LPU Cavite Junior Pirates crushed St. Mary’s College Marian Hawks of Tagum, 93-61, while Italy breezed past St. Domingo National High School out of Legazpi, 83-75.

McLaude Guadana led four Junior Pirates in double-digit scoring with 15. John Baran added 10 points, Nat Tulabut finished with 11 while Jae Omandac chipped in 10.

LPU blew out of the gates to take the first period, 32-11, and never looked back. Tagum made a go of it in the second canto as they outscored the Cavite-based squad by eight points. The Junior Pirates tightened their defense after the halftime break, and that allowed them to score 27 points to put the final result beyond doubt.

Tagum’s Felix Magallon led St. Mary’s with 15 markers with help coming from Junnie Perdido (14 points) and Janel Malalis (11 points).

Proud Pinoy Italy, one of the last three international teams standing — Durham Crossover Canada and FilAm Sports USA remain in the hunt for a semis berth in Division One play — peppered the St. Domingo Red Dragons with solid shooting from Vince Gomez, Cholo Anonuevo and Ian Olalia from almost all sides of the court.

Gomez finished the first quarter with a long half-court heave while Anonuevo also hit a long range shot to end the second quarter as Legazpi could not deal with Italy’s hot shooting. 

Italy hit 53 percent of their shots, including nine triples, to break the backs of the Red Dragons. 

The Red Dragons steadily chipped away at a 27-point lead, but turnovers hurt their chances of overhauling the deficit. Although the final lead was down to eight, Italy was almost in no trouble.

Vince Gomez led Italy with 36 points, including six triples. Cholo Anonuevo and Ian Olalia added 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Lloyd Borbe topscored for Legazpi with 19 points with 15 coming from Medwin Ariate and 11 from JD Areno.