FD ALUMNI TOURNAMENT TIPS OFF

By Jeffrey Ochavillo

It is that time of year again for the graduates of FD as the annual Alumni Tournament kicked off Thursday night with three great opening games to set the tone for the entire tournament.

The first night of action got off to a good start with a head-to-head match between the Class of 1999 and the Classes 1996/1997 and ended with a milestone for the combined class of 2002/03 who handed the five-time champion Class of 2006 their first loss in three years.

1996/1997 beats 1999 in shootout

Class of 1999 gave a stunning performance in the second half by gutting out a late comeback to tie the game before the end of regulation, but fell short in the 3-point shootout to seal the win. Eddie Pelkey, who contributed on both sides of the court, led Class of 96/97 with 20 points to steal the 46-44 win over the Class of 1999 in tonight’s opener at the Jungle.

Coming into the 2nd half down 24-15, momentum seemed to be with Class of 96/97. However, tables started to turn as Class of ‘99’s Matt Acda knocked down 3 straight floaters in traffic to start racking up much needed points, but with every shot Acda was hitting, 96/97 would counter back with a shot of their own.

‘99’s Corey Diaz hit a corner three pointer to shave the lead 34-27, but Pelkey drove coast-to-coast and finished with a layup followed by another bucket from Luis Blanco to put them up 38-27.

’99’s Matt Acda soars in for a runner in the lane. (photo by Robert Balajadia)

Acda erupted in the second half making 4 consecutive shots, with one of them a three pointer, to spark a 9-0 run to tie the game at 38. Things started to heat up between Pelkey and Acda as they both attacked the baskets to give their team a slight advantage to gain a lead.

With two minutes left in the game, ’99 was down 40-42 until Dennis hit an open three pointer off an offensive rebound to give them their first lead of the night at 43-42. After, Adca got fouled and hit  two easy free throws to put them up 44-42.

With 40 seconds left in the game, Pelkey picked up a defensive rebound and drove coast-to-coast where he drew contact as he was attempting a shot. Pressured, he knocked down both free throws to the game at 44 with less than 30 seconds left.

’99 had to hold the ball for the last shot of the night because no teams had any timeouts left. The ball was nearly turned over with only a few seconds left in the game by the pressure of the 96/97 defenses, but the ball ended up in the hands of ‘99’s Corey Diaz who threw up the shot from the corner as the ball came flying into the basket. Sadly, the shot was waved off because he failed to get it off on time, thus putting the game into a 3-point shootout.

1996/1997 had made in two three pointers by Dennis and Baker, but ’99 missed all four attempts to try and tie the game.

Class of 1996/1997 came out victorious from shootout with a 46-44 victory after being led by Eddie Pelkey. However, in the losing effort it was Matt Adca who scored a game high 21 points, all in the 2nd half.

Class of ’03 outruns streaking ‘06

Beating the Class of 2006 is not impossible, but no one really knew when it was coming. The combined class of 2002/03 did what no team had been able to do in three years, beat the ’06 with in a classic shootout 56-46.

’06 had things rolling early in the first half with Julius Yu making three straight threes in the opening minutes of the game, that were all well contested, that gave his team a 11-9 lead. ’02/’03 was not far behind as Jimmie Yi managed to get to the free throw line to keep the game close and streaky shooting by the always dangerous Sean Perez.

A few minutes later into the game things started getting interesting as both teams started feeling the rhythm as the lead started to change constantly. ‘02/’03’s Yi drove baseline and finished at the basket to tie the game at 11, but ‘06’s Yu continued to make more contested jumpers to maintain their lead at 16-14.

Class of ’02/’03’s Sean Perez laces up a three pointer against Class of ’06. (photo by Robert Balajadia)

In the last minute of the first half, ’03 went on an 8-point run behind Perez and teammate Vince Estella. Perez grabbed a rebound and sprinted to his favorite three-point spot, hitting a buzzer beater before the half to give ’02/’03 a 29-21 lead.

Being down was nothing new for ’06 so they were confident ’02/’03 was not going to run away with an easy win. However, the long distance shooting would continue to hurt ’06 as 02/’03 continued to play well the 2nd half going up 47-31 with Perez and Yi racking up the points from behind the arc  and with a series of put backs and jumpers quickly increasing their lead.

With 3 minutes left in the game, ’06 looked to pull a comeback being down 14, with AJ Reyes and Yu both draining a three ball quickly cutting the lead to eight. But time wasn’t on ’06  side as they resorted to fouling to stop the clock as ’02/’03 hit free throws to ice the game.

Big contributor to the win was Perez who had a game high 28 points alongside Yi with 19. Despite the loss, Yu did work for ’06 scoring 26 points.

1988-(36), 1981-1982-(46)

The game was neck-and-neck the entire first half, until ‘81/82 started to pull away by taking advantage of the many missed attempts from the class of ’88. ‘81/82’s Joe Javellena scored a game high of 15 to help lift his overcame what was a close game at the wire against 1988. In the losing effort was Mike Sablan who scored a total of 9 poins.

PHOTO GALLERY:

Jimmie Yi hits a three pointer to extend ’02/’03’s lead on 2006. (photo by Robert Balajadia)

’06’s Julius Yu hits a fadeaway three pointer in the corner. (photo by Robert Balajadia)

’06’s AJ Reyes gets around the defense for a smooth layup. (photo by Robert Balajadia)

The dagger that gave 96/97 the lead in the shootout. (photo by Robert Balajadia)

The game winning shot by 99 was waved off. (photo by Robert Balajadia)