Charles Tiu put on a one-man show right in the first quarter as Mighty Sports-Prudential Guarantee won an unprecedented fourth straight Cortina Conference Division 1 title in the Xavier School Alumni Basketball League with an 83-72 win over Embassy Whisky last Sunday at the Cortina gym of Xavier School.
The coach of Mighty Sports in the Merlion Cup and a sports analyst of CNN, Tiu outscored the entire Embassy Whisky team by scoring 27 of the team’s 30 points in the first quarter behind his awesome outside shooting, burying seven triples in the first seven minutes.
Tiu’s remarkable shooting threw Embassy out of their comfort zone as it struggled to keep pace with the Caesar Wonghuking-managed Mighty Sports-Prudential Guarantee squad in the annual alumni tournament. Also backing the team are Den Coyiuto and Willie Ocier.
“Everybody played well but it was Charles who started it all,” said coach Mike Fermin. “He was so hot, he deserved to be the MVP.”
The title win enabled the Go for Gold-backed Mighty Sports-Prudential Guarantee to complete another glorious year as it won the title undefeated.
Taking a cue from Tiu, Joseph Yeo and TY Tang made several highlight moves in the next three frames to frustrate Embassy’s repeated rallies.
Tiu went on to finish with 34 points and emerged as the Final MVP.
Tang and Yeo, whose partnership with ROS star Chris Tiu – Charles older brother – in the 90s earned Xavier numerous titles, finished with 18 and 15 points, respectively, with the latter dishing off eight assists.