Games today: (UNO gym)

5:30 p.m. -- St. Jude vs. CKSC
7 p.m. -- St. Stephen vs. Grace Christian


HOPE Christian High School picked up its third straight win while  Jeron Teng produced a pair of awe-inspiring  performance as defending champion Xavier School rebounded from a  nightmarish showing the last time in the 42nd Metro Manila Tiong Lian Basketball Association at the Xavier School gym.

Determined to end a 19-year title  drought, Hope Christian overpowered St. Jude Catholic School, 77-58, behind  a dominating first  half  performance   while  four-time  defending champion Xavier School scored a   breezy 125-57 victory over a  hapless Uno High squad  --  thanks to Teng’s  triple-double  performance -- last Saturday.

With  Raymond Tan and Errol Villar presiding over the team’s bristling assault, Hope Christian practically turned the game into a showtime, scoring almost at  will to take a commanding 40-19 halftime lead.

Hope Christian was never threatened from   there to remain as the only unbeaten team in the seven-team  tournament presented by Regan Industrials Sales Inc. and  World Balance.

Don Mendoza and Janrey Garrido led Hope Christian with 13 markers each while five other teammates scored at least points or more in a brilliant show of firepower.

Hope Christian’s victory over St. Jude was a follow-up to its stunning 66-60 victory over Xavier last Tuesday where it held Teng to just 14 points – his lowest output in three seasons.

But Teng redeemed himself with two successive big games.

Teng’s 27-point, 15-rebound and 14-assist performance was a fitting sequel to his 58-point explosion last Friday that saw him outscore the entire St. Stephen’s High School squad in the team’s 119-56 win  also at the  Uno High School.

On that day, multi-titled Chiang Kai Shek College also barged into the win-column of the tournament also backed by by Uratex, Burlington, Summit Drinking Water, 100 Plus, Supreme Steel Pipe, Superior  Pipe, Ace Water Spa and Molten by downing host Grace Christian College, 91-40, through the efforts ofJohh Kevin Baytan and Carlo Young.

Also shining for Xavier were 6-foot-6 Kyles Lao who had 31 points and Henry Yap with 17.

In the Aspirants division, Xavier romped to a 63-52 winn over St. Stephen’s HS, Chiang Kai Shek College walloped Hop Christian, 127-47 and St. Jude whipped Grace Christian College, 72-60.

For more Tiong Lian game stories, log on to www.tionglianbasketballph.webs.com and  www.gameface.ph.