Jared Bahay didn’t just play his best, he also made his team, Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, looked good in capturing the secondary boys’ basketball throne of the Palarong Pambansa in Marikina City.
The 17-year-old Bahay turned the Marikina Sports Complex gymnasium into his own dominion, top-scoring with 30 points as the Magis Eagles toppled the Nazareth School-National University-Bullpups, 77-73, in the finals on Saturday at the close of the annual students’ multi-event competition.
Bahay’s big game brought the Magis Eagles their first high school cage title in 10 years while stalling the four-peat-seeking Bullpups, who represented the National Capital Region.
NCR, which held the championship from 2017 to 2019, drew 22 points from Carl Alfanta.
“Balewala din ang pagiging best player mo kung hindi mapapag champion ang team mo. Sabi ni coach (Rommel Rasmo) sa akin, if you want to be the best, you make your teammates be the best,” said Bahay, who is set to play for the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons in college next year.
The count was tied at 73-all when Bahay unleashed a jumper which put the Magis Eagles ahead in the last 38 seconds.
After Yusi missed a shot that could have allowed NCR to catch up in the final 4.9 seconds, the Magis Eagles grabbed an opportunity to finalize the count in the next play.
Cebuano fans jumped in celebration after Wilhelm Go picked up a miss from Bahay and scored on a follow-up in the last 2.4 seconds, to preserve the win for the Magis Eagles, who carried the Central Visayas banner.
“We are so blessed and grateful for the title. It’s been 10 years since Central Visayas has won a title,” said Rasmo.
Central Luzon Region settled for the bronze medal with their 110-103 triumph over Davao Region.
In the secondary girls’ side, NCR toppled Central Visayas, 85-83, for the gold, while Western Visayas won over Central Luzon, 85-53, for the bronze.
In the secondary boys volleyball, Central Luzon’s Trinitas College prevailed over the Central Visayas selection, 25-21, 22-25, 25-19, 17-25, 15-12, in the finals, while Western Visayas stopped NCR, 18-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-16, 18-16.
In boxing, Region VI bet Leo Lobrido hacked out a 5-0 rout of Region 10’s Alexei Alava in the pinweight division, while Miguelito Bantillan prevailed John Estorba, 5-0, in the light flyweight side.
Francis Jarencio (CAR) put away John Vinoya (region IV-B), 5-0, for the junior boys pinweight plum, while Harley Pores won over Webb Agad, 3-2, in the junior boys lightflyweight gold medal round.
Overall, NCR finished its campaign with an 85-74-55 gold-silver bronze performance, with Western Visayas in second with a 60-49-44 haul followed in third by Southern Tagalog, with a 51-52-57 tally.
NCR dominated the secondary level with their 55-52-39 collection, with Southern Tagalog (34-36-39 taking the silver. Western Visayas is third(34-23-27).
Meanwhile, organizers confirmed that Cebu will be the 2024 Palarong Pambansa while Ilocos Norte will have its turn in 2025.