Retired PBA star Chris Tiu played one of his best performances in a game between keeping Xavier School’s season going and putting his alma mater in restoring its winning legacy.
On Wednesday night, Tiu reasserted his role as Xavier’s go-to-guy, a familiar task given to him more than two decades ago when he was still playing in high school and he didn’t disappoint the blue community, who came out in full support while leading his squad to a 73-69 win over Hua Siong College of Iloilo in Game 2 of their Fil-Chinese Athletic Association Inc. 40-And-Up best-of-three championship series. Tiu’s gallant effort sent the series to a winner-take-all showdown on Friday as fans from both squads are expected to pack the Filoil EcoOil Arena.
Tiu scored nine points in the last two-and-half minutes of the game Xavier cannot afford to lose and his endgame brilliance kept his squad on track of winning a title.
“It’s hard kasi may tama ako sa paa, pero tingnan mo naman yung support ng crowd namin, students, alumni, friends, families, they came here to support,” said Tiu, limping his way to score 20 points, nearly half of those came in the most crucial moments.
“They’re here to lend their support and even those who were watching us online, so hindi puwedeng basta-basta bumigay. Kahit masakit, laban lang. Our determination, our sacrifice, this time, it went our way. This win could possibly become a momentum shifter for us. It was a confidence booster for us. For us to be able to compete and keep the game close against the other team, which was more superior, happy na kami. Now, we have an opportunity to win it.”
Tiu’s Xavier team became the first squad to defeat the James Yap and Ken Bono-powered HSCI team this season.
While Tiu became his squad’s last action hero, Eldridge Liao’s marksmanship was equally impressive.
Liao has been the sparkplug all game long, hitting six treys, including the dagger in the closing seconds that ensured Xavier’s victory. He went on to finish the game with 18 markers.
Joseph Yeo led the way for Xavier with 22 markers before fouling out with less than two minutes in the game.
Game 3 of their rubber match will be held at the Filoil EcoOil Arena at 7 p.m. and the venue is expected to be packed by supporters of Xavier, which is situated a few blocks away from the site of this slam bang encounter, and supporters of Yap, a reelected city councilor, whose diehard fans had filled in the venues all season long.
