The L.E.A. Kitchen Red team triumphed over the L.E.A. Kitchen White team in the 16 and Under Filipino Basketball League championship at F.H. Collins school in Whitehorse Saturday.

The Third-Place game featured Budget Rental versus a short-handed Riverstone Dental squad.

Budget led 30-16 at the end of the first quarter.

They took a 55-37 lead into the half.

Budget extended their lead to 76-57 after three quarters.

The final score ended up 104-65 for Budget.

The Star spoke with Budget's Jeff Rumbaoa after their win.

"It's a good way to end the season. We're kind of disappointed because we kind of expected to to go to the finals, cause we were the first seed. But at least we ended the season with a win, and now we're able to at least bring something home to celebrate with."

Budget was 6-0 during the regular season. They lost a close semifinal. "We went to overtime, then lost by five points," recalled Rumbaoa.

Rumbaoa attributed the third-place win to his teammates.

"Junior (Floride), Kaelan Basnett, they played really sound defence in the third quarter, fourth quarter. They were able to secure boards more and getting those second-chance points on the offensive side."

The top scorers for Budget were Rumbaoa with 26 points, Carlos Magsucang with 19, and RJ Williams chipped in with 14.

For Riverstone, Pier De Leon led the way with 28 points. Miguel Portea added 23 points.

The next game featured the second game of a best of three final between the L.E.A. Kitchen Red team and the L.E.A. Kitchen White team.

It was tied 17-17 after one quarter. The White team took over in the second quarter and took a 37-25 lead into halftime.

The Red team, which had twice as many players as the short-handed White team, who had only five, drew close in the third quarter. It ended with the White team holding onto a slim lead, 49-46.

The Red team took over the game in the fourth, with Misa Svoboda fouling out for the White team, leaving them with only four players to defend the lead.

The Red Team went ahead 63-62 with 3:16 left and came out on top 68-65.

The Star spoke with the Red Team's Brittany Pagabo and Isiah Cabiso after the game. They said it felt great to win the championship.

"I wasn't gonna expect that we're gonna come back in that one, because we were down the first half, and then we fought harder, and then we got the dub (win)," said Cabiso.

They said communication was the key to victory. Both players heated up down the stretch.

Cabiso joked that Pagabo turned into "Kobe" (Bryant). Pagabo was OK with that.

Pagabo added "This is one of my best moments."

Pagobo was the top scorer for the Red team with 20 points. Cabiso netted 15 points.

Jon Ainge and Gabe Thompson led the White team with 14 points each. Nathan Hirsch contributed 12 points.

The Mythical Teams were as follows:

First Mythical Team:

Brittony Pagobo
Jon Ainge
Carlos Magsucang
Jeff Rumbaoa
Pier De Leon

Second Mythical Team:

Junior Floride
Nathan Hirsch
Enrique Miral
Miguel Portea
Isiah Cabiso

Jeff Rumbaoa was named the Season MVP.

The Finals MVP was Brittony Pagobo.

The finals for the 35 Open Division take place Saturday at Saint Francis.