OMEGA Pro engineered a huge third-quarter surge on back-to-back triples by African import Mangga en route to a 73-72 victory over the University of San Tomas Growling Tigers Sunday night in the 1st St. Isidore Fiesta Cup held at the St. Bernard Gymnasium in St. Bernard, Southern Leyte.
With the victory, Omega Pro, which is bannered by ex-Philippine Basketball Association players Hercules Tangkay, Rudy Lingganay and Mark Andaya, improved to 2-0. Earlier in the day, Omega Pro crushed the AC Troopers, 99-88, at the start of the four-day competitions at the nearby Hinundayan Gymnasium.
For the Growling Tigers, who were without Kevin Ferrer and Paolo Pe, the loss was their second in as many game after dropping a 77-74 decision to the “four-peat” NCAA champion San Beda Red Lions, on opening day on a right corner triple by veteran Lance Abude with 3.3 seconds left. Cameroonian Karim Abdul, who led UST with 20 points, had deadlocked the count at 74-all on a pair of free throws.
The reigning Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) titlist University of the Visayas Green Lancers opened their campaign with a methodical 55-41 triumph over San Beda College (1-1), getting 12 points each from African imports Jean Mpoula and Steve Akomo and nine from wily playmaker John Michael Abad.
Cebu’s University of San Carlos made its debut on Monday when the Warriors took on unbeaten Omega Pro. UST looked to bounce back from its 0-2 start against UV and San Beda College clashed with the AC Troopers (0-1).
The top two teams following the single elimination round will tangle for the championship on Wednesday. At stake is P100,000 courtesy of the local government officials in St. Bernard, led by Mayor Cauton.
The six-team tournament, the biggest cagefest ever in Leyte, is being held in coordination with the Reverend Father Catubig of the local parish church, and organizer Van Halen Puray Parmis. The finals loser will get P75,000.
The third-placer, which will go up against the fourth-ranked team in a playoff on Wednesday, will take home P50,000
I AM a battle-scarred Filipino who is a year away from acquiring a second citizenship – or rather becoming a senior citizen.
For the younger generation, life begins at 40. But for us Baby Boomers, life begins at 60.
At my age, I have also become a basketball dinosaur, a hoops junkie who perhaps is ready to ride onto the sunset. I have been chronicling local and international basketball competitions for most of my earthly existence.
The passion for the sport got into me early. At the tender age of eight, I have already been into basketball and reading hoops materials from here and abroad. And I have not looked back since then.
Along the way, I may have flirted with some other sports such as professional boxing, soccer, bowling and table tennis.
Of course, that is aside from the girl-oogling that most teenagers do to freshen or lighten up.
Tell me, how can one not follow the lead of “Nineteeners” TV host Jose Mari Chan from the swinging 1960s and not stop and talk for a while when the tall and tan and young and lovely Girl from Ipanema goes walking?
I played the game of soccer, bowling and “pingpong” (or table tennis) during my heyday, but never did I have the guts to take up the bloody sport of boxing.
My brushes with some bullies during my academic years were the only experiences I had in the punching business. For good measure, I also was fascinated with the work ethic and jeet kune do fighting style (spiced with some Kenkoy acts) of the late iconic martial artist Bruce Lee as a teenager in the seventies.
After all that has been said, my basketball playing/chronicling has neither waned nor set back by any boundaries even until now.
As Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel of the legendary American musical duo of Simon and Garfunkel would say, I am “Still Crazy After All These Years” with the game of basketball.
Truly, at age 59, I am still crazy over hoops and nets. For the past half-a-century, this Hoopster has actually watched thousands and thousands of games – be it “live” or on television.
“Been there, done that” I have, from the sandlots to the barangay playground to the Araneta Coliseum and now all the way to the newly-built SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The journey does not stop here and will never cease to end until my last breath. It’s all for the love of basketball.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.