As expected, St. Stephen’s Cellboy and Xavier-McDavid x Windsor dominated their respective opponents to kick off their title campaigns in the 30-39 age division of the Smart Sports Fil-Chinese Athletic Association Inc., presented by Tanduay Athletics, on Monday, Feb. 2, at the Tanduay Gym in Quiapo, Manila.
St. Stephen’s leaned on strong performances from Kish Co and Lawrence Wu to down Uno High–Golden Peters, 82-59.
Meanwhile, Xavier relied on Gab Banal’s all-around brilliance and Charles Tiu’s playmaking to rout Philippine Cultural College–Alva Lighting, 97-69.
Living up to his reputation, Co recorded a double-double with 22 points and 15 rebounds, adding four assists. Then Wu connected on three triples en route to a 19-point effort in the tournament, which is supported by Genius Hardware, Ultraforce Tires, Cellboy, PGFlex Linoleum, Boysen, Lamtex Pipes, Jiang Nan, Hangry Pares, Powerhouse Tools, L.F. Fireworks, BYD Valenzuela, BAIC, Jetour, Oedo, 1118 Autospa, and TCL.
Vince Revillosa and Eric Gotauco led Uno High with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Meanwhile, former MPBL MVP Banal shrugged off all defensive attention to finish with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Tiu — who will now run the offense for Phoenix in the PBA — was just 1-of-3 from three-point range but dished out 12 assists in only 18 minutes of action.
Antonio Sy and Clabert Teng paced PCC with 20 and 13 points, respectively.
Also off to a strong start was St. Jude-Duralite, which overwhelmed Tiong Se Academy–Alpha 7, 72-49, in the lone match of the 50-and-over division.
