Junior Altas end school's 41-year title drought in NCAA basketball

University of Perpetual Help System Dalta ended its 41-year title drought in NCAA basketball on Tuesday at the jampacked FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.

The Junior Altas demolished Greenies of La Salle Greenhills, 101-67, to win the best-of-three finals series, 2-1, and capture the juniors basketball crown of Season 100.

Lebron James Daep, the Most Valuable Player of the season, was also named Finals MVP. He finished with a double-double performance of 10 points and 12 rebounds in Game Three.

Mythical Five member Jan Roluna, however, led the Junior Altas with 15 points and 10 boards. Icee Callangan, Corpuz and Dan Rosales chipped in 14, 13, and 12 points, respectively.

Guillan Quines, who exploded for 35 points in Game Two, finished with 18 points for the Greenies in Game Three.

"It's a great season for us, they showed what we worked hard for during the whole year of preparation. They showed the real character," Junior Altas coach Joph Cleopas said.

"After our bridesmaid finish last season, we took this as inspiration to strive harder as a team that we really worked together on this," he added.

University of Perpetual Help joined the NCAA in 1984. It has never won a basketball championship until Tuesday.

Anton Tamayo, team manager and vice president for sports of Perpetual Help, lauded the achievement of the Junior Altas, saying it is "a great gift for the UPH Community to bring home the first title to the Las Piñas campus as it celebrates its 50th founding anniversary this year."

The scores:

Perpetual Help (101) - Roluna 15, Callangan 13, Corpuz 13, Rosales 12, Daep 12, Pagulayan 9, Tabbuan 9, Baldoria 5, Nitura 3, Dela Cruz 3, Velasquez 2, Borja 2, Llupar 2, Cristino 2, Zanoria 0.

Benilde-La Salle Greenhills (67) - Quines 18, Gomez 17, Ortega 9, Podador 8, Osis 4, Yutuc 3, Ison 2, Sharma 2, Torres 2, Abad 2, Hizon 0, Hachuela 0, Tud 0, Gonzales 0.

Quarter scores: 32-18, 58-38, 81-55, 101-67