The Xavier Small Basketeers of the Philippines(SBP) and Passerelle Basketball teams both fell short of their championship dreams to finish 1st Runner Up in their respective divisions during the National Capital Region(NCR) finals of the Milo - BEST Center SBP and Passerelle Twin Tournaments held Sunday (28 September) at the Rafael Cortina Sports Center.

In the Passerelle division, the game showed a seven-point Xavier lead (16 - 9) at first quarter’s end only to be snatched by La Salle Greenhills(LSGH) after a squander by the defending champion’s second quarter squad, 24 - 36.

In this tournament, each team enters a fresh line-up of players in each of the first three quarters. It is only during the final quarter when coaches may substitute and rotate players from the full team.

Coaches Lito Vergara and Jojo Imutan’s third quarter crew laboriously fought to surmount the 12-point La Salle lead and even registered a two-point cushion after 10 minutes. The rally took its toll as the fourth quarter end game saw Xavier unable to sustain the momentum and bowed to LSGH, 71 - 76 at the sound of the final buzzer.

It was a similar fight in the SBP division when defending champion Ateneo De Manila University(ADMU) raced to a 10-point spread in the opening quarter with a stunned Xavier first five managing to score only three points.

Coaches Owen Oliva and Dan Gonzales’ second quarter unit shook up the Ateneo defense to bring the team to within seven points at the end of the period, 20 - 27.

Xavier inched closer to trim the Ateneo lead to just four at the end of the third period, 31 - 35. It was during the fourth quarter when Xavier equalized and the crowd saw a series of one-point lead changes. Even with the Xaverians outscoring Ateneo 13 to 10 in the final quarter, it was anybody’s ballgame up to the dying seconds when the boys from Loyola Heights relied heavily on their championship experience and denied a last basket attempt by Xavier. When the smoke cleared, the scoreboard showed: Home - 44; Guest - 45.

The teams would like to thank all those who came out to support them. Special mention goes to the X-Squad who were in full force during the two games.

Congratulations to the Xavier SBP and Passerelle Basketball teams! We are proud of you! Luceat Lux!