Batang Tiaong tops South Luzon NBTC leg

Batang Tiaong

Batang Tiaong claimed the inaugural South Luzon Regional Championship on Sunday, dispatching St. Jude College-Dasmariñas in the final, 88-63, at the Quezon Convention Center in the city of Lucena.

The home side used strong starts in the first two quarters to break the game open. The trio of John Renz Apor, Aldwin Herrera, and Maury Gorospe scored the first ten points of the match and they never looked back. John Rex Villanueva would then power the team onto a 16-2 start in the second period to put the game out of reach.

Their advantage would eventually balloon to as high as 37 points, which happened at 69-32 midway through the third quarter, before cruising to the final result.

Apor nailed five triples on his way to finish with 23 points en route to being named as the Most Outstanding Player.

Claiming the bronze medal is PCU-Dasmariñas, which held a better win-loss record than One Media TV48-Naga.

NBTC Program Director Eric Altamirano shares, "We're very happy with how our RCs turned out, of course, with big-time assists from all our provincial government and officials. From Laoag, Ilocos Norte to Sarangani to Bacolod, Negros Occidental to Lucena, Quezon Province, kitang-kita natin yung promise and potential ng mga bata all over the Philippines. We can't wait to see them fulfill their dream of playing at the SM Mall of Asia Arena."

Even with the results on Sunday, all four teams booked their spot at the NBTC National Finals, which will take place from March 18-24 at the Mall of Asia Arena. They are final four teams to comprise the sixteen slots allocated to the outstanding teams from the Regional Championships, which were held at Ilocos Norte, Sarangani, Negros Occidental, and Quezon.

Joining them in Pasay are the finalists from the UAAP and NCAA high school tournaments, as well as ten select teams from overseas and a couple of wildcard squads.

A notable feat during this particular RC hosted by the Provincial Government of Quezon was Mick Geronimo scoring 54 points in a single game for Pusong Pinoy Marinduque, while also converting fourteen triples.