THE big men of the College of San Sebastian Staglets struck hard and fast and led the Recoletos cagers to an 84-54 smashing of Hector College-Roxas yesterday in Day 2 of the 11th season of SM-NBTC (National Basketball Training Center) at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The 10th-seeded Staglets, who got their ranking after demolishing Camp David-New Zealand, 94-54, in Sunday’s classification match, once again drew big numbers from Damie Cuntapay and Romel Calahat.
Cuntapay banged in 13 points and seven rebounds, while Calahat hit 12 points and eight rebounds for the Staglets in hurdling their round of 32 encounter.
“Lahat nag-stepup, kahit iyung mga seniors na paangat na,” said Staglets’ coach Melo Banua.
The Staglets moved into the “Sweet 16” second round and will meet the winner between the defending champion San Beda University Red Cubs and University of Baguio.
The Roxas City cagers, who were outrebounded, 50-12, fell behind after the Staglets limited them to just 12 points in the second period.
With Cuntapay leading the assault with seven points, the Staglets went on to enjoy a 13-point halftime spread, 37-24.
A total of 32 high school basketball teams, including champion teams from various leagues from all over the Philippines, as well as from Filipino communities based in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States, are competing to stand out as the best high school team for this season.
Earlier, Cuntapay unloaded 13 points in the Staglets’ showdown with the Kiwis.
Durham of Canada also reached the Sweet 16 with the Staglets, along with UAAP champion Ateneo, Letran Knights and the Aus-Pinoy team of Australia.
The Canadians, who prevailed over the Letran Knights, 80-75, in the classification round, came up with a similar 80-75 win over University of Baguio, with Tyler Garcia shooting 28 points.
Kai Sotto unloaded 15 points for the top-seeded Ateneo Blue Eaglets in their 98-47 walloping of New Ormoc City National High School, while the Knights won over Assumption College-Davao, 86-83, with Andray Guarino scoring 11 points with four others.
Danielle Mallari topscored for 21 points in carrying the Australians to an 86-79 edging of Assumption Montessori-Cagayan de Oro.
The day-to-day winning teams will advance to the next round, while the losing teams will earn a second chance to NBTC glory in the Division 2 competition.
