General Trias, Cavite—Youth prevailed over experience as North champion San Juan brought down South titlist and host General Trias Braves, 75-64, in their winner-take-all final to capture the Community Basketball Association (CBA)-Pilipinas Central crown at the Gen.Trias Sports Center here late Sunday.
Paul Victoria stood at the helm of the Knights’ convincing triumph as he flirted with a near triple-double of 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists in nearly 36 minutes of action.
Victoria was later named “Best Player of the Game.”
Jhonard Clarito and Noah Lugo added 15 points apiece and beanpole Christian Bunag contributed 12 points and eight rebounds for the Knights, who defeated the Caloocan Supremos to bag the North title in this tournament organized by actor-director Carlo Maceda and sponsored by Globe Telecoms, Spalding and Arceegee Sports Wear.
“We played our usual game. Alam namin na lamang sila sa experience, kaya the game plan really was to use our speed and one-on-one plays,” said San Juan coach Randy Alcantara, who earned his second title in less than a month after steering the San Juan Knights to the MPBL Datu Cup championship.
“Na-neutralize namin ‘yung experience at maganda ‘yung naging rebounding namin, kaya nakatakbo kami,” added Alcantara, who was ably assisted by Yong Garcia and Melvin Caruz.
Chester Ian Melencio led the Braves with 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting while Jomathan Rivera added a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Allan Evangelista, one of the more-experienced players on the Gen. Trias team, had eight points and six rebounds.
Another veteran, Jeff Tajonera, was held scoreless but had three rebounds and three assists.
The Braves were still within striking distance at 30-37 following a layup by Melencio with 9:27 left.
But the Knights went on a scoring spree, hitting nine unanswered points to establish a 46-30 lead that silenced the home crowd.
And after Evangelista snapped a long-scoring drought by the Braves and made it 32-46, the Knights unleashed another 12-2 blast over a four-minute span for a 58-34 advantage going into the payoff period.
In all, the Knights outscored the Beaves, 21-7, in the third period.
The scores:
San Juan Knights (75) – Victoria 17, Lugo 15, Clarito 15, Bunag 12, Aguirre 8, Reyes 2, Bonifacio 2, Rosopa 2, Ubalde 2, Saret 0, Acol 0
General Trias Braves (64) – Melencio 17, Rivera 11, Prudente 9, Evangelista 8, Delos Santos 7, Laureno 6, Porto 4, Guillen 2, Tajonera 0, Alcaraz 0, Bondoc 0
Quarterscores: 17-15, 37-27, 58-34, 75-64.
