Charles Tiu’s first quarter explosion was enough to propel the Mighty Sports-Prudential Guarantee past Embassy Whiskey, taking an 83-72 victory in the Finals of the Fr. Cortina Conference Division 1 championship, Sunday at Xavier School in San Juan City.
Tiu, an assistant coach for the CSB Blazers and the host of the nightly edition of CNN Sportsdesk, outscored the entire Embassy team in the first quarter alone. The 29-year-old, who is part of Batch 2006, knocked down seven triples in the first seven minutes of the game and eventually finished the opening stanza scoring 27 of his 34 points.
In contrast, Embassy, who did not have Woody Co and Chris Tiu for the game as the former was nursing an injury while the latter had a PBA game on the same day, only had 12 points to end the first 10 minutes of the game.
“Everybody played well but it was Charles who started it all,” said coach Mike Fermin.
“He was so hot, he deserved to be the MVP,” added Fermin as Tiu also had six rebounds, two steals, and two assists in the game.
This is Mighty Sports’ fourth straight championship in the oldest alumni league in the country that is backed by City of Dreams.
Behind Bong Tan and Joseph Chua, Embassy attempted a late comeback attempt but big shots from Xavier’s iconic duo of Ty Tang and Joseph Yeo bucked any hijack attempt.
Tang had 18 points while Yeo chipped in 15 points and dished out eight dimes.
Tan paced Embassy with 30 points while Chua complemented his effort with an 18-point, 18-rebound outing.
The Scores:
Mighty-Prudential 83 – Tiu 34, Tang 18, Yeo 15, Ngo 3, Sioco 3, Ong 2, Chua M. 2, Chua P. 1, Coyiuto 0, Ng 0, Noel 0, Go 0, Liao 0.
Embassy 72 – Tan 30, Chua J. 18, Alabanza 7, Young 7, Coyiuto 6, Lee, 3, Tan 1, Lim 0, Chua B. 0, Tumao 0, Gotauco 0.
Quarterscores: 30-12, 55-29, 65-47, 83-72.
