A perennial finalist since the oldest teams in the league merged into what is called now X-United, the combined Batch from 1979 up to 1990 once again made it to the championship round of the prestigious Xavier University High School (XUHS) Alumni Basketball League.
This, was after the united veterans recently defeated the Supremos (1994) in their brawl-marred semis duel, 89-71 which caused one cager to bleed in his mouth and the other to land in a hospital due to an apparent head injury.
“Almost every year you'll see us in the finals but without those St. Francis Xavier Cup rings. I had two crowns before with the 80s All-Star but none since we merged as the X-United team some 10 years ago. Dili lang gyod 'mi mo give up sa among championship dream,” shooting guard Charome ‘The Amazing’ Marte told Gold Star Daily.
Now, it’s up to Marte, Erwin Raagas, Tiny Peñaflor, Bingbong Padilla, Noknok San Jose, Reynand Fuentes, and company to cut those “raw diamonds” when the veterans face again the defending champion Batch 1995 in another best-of-three title showdown in November at the Xavier University's uptown Pueblo gym in Cagayan de Oro City.
Powered by Paul ‘Shantao’ Moreno, the title-favorite Batch 95 made it to the championship round ― for the umpteenth time ― after a hard-earned triumph over the Elich Alfante-bannered Batch 1996 in the other half of the semifinal matches.
