Laure MBA MVP; Racela coach of year

LBC Batangas Blades power forward Eddie Laure emerged as the 2001 MBA Most Valuable Player while Blades mentor Nash Racela was voted unopposed by the members of the MBA Press Corps as Coach of the Year.

Despite placing only fourth behind Fil-Ams Chris Clay and Jeffrey Flowers of FedEx Laguna Lakers and 1998 MVP John Ferriols of the Negros Slashers in statistical points, the 6-foot-3 Laure, a native of Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte, got the nod of all the members of the sports media covering the MBA to win the award won by his teammate Romel Adducul last year.

"Una sa lahat, gusto kong magpasalamat sa ating Panginoon dahil sa pagkakaloob Niya sa akin ng lakas at talent para makapaglaro ng basketball," said the 24-year-old cager, who was a Palarong Pambansa discovery.

He was discovered by his agent-manager Charlie Dy during the 1995 Palarong Pambansa in Pangasinan while playing for Region XII, a year after his father died.

Dy brought him to Adamson University where he played for three years for the Falcons in the UAAP from 1995 to 1997.

His long years of patience playing basketball finally bore fruit for Laure this year. Earlier, he was chosen one of the members of the Philippine men’s basketball team which won the gold in the 21st Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia.

Observers and other basketball officials from other Southeast Asian countries said that if there’s an MVP award given by the SEA Games organizers, Laure could have been the winner for his consistent performance all throughout the tournament.

The experience he gained during the SEA Games helped him a lot as he played a major role in the Blades’ campaign to win their first ever MBA Conference and National titles.

"Gusto kong magpasalamat sa lahat ng mga taong nakatulong at sumuporta sa akin para maabot ko ang kinalalagyan ko ngayon. Sa management ng Blades, sa coaching staff, sa mga teammates ko, sa aming mga utility, sa manager ko, sa aking pamilya at higit sa lahat sa mga press na nakapansin sa mga pinaghirapan ko, maraming maraming salamat po," said Laure.

"Hindi ko talaga inaasahan na ako ang mananalo nito," added the soft spoken Laure, who rose from being a ‘seldom-used’ player during his amateur days while playing for Agfa and Red Bull in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) to become one of the franchise players of Batangas Blades.

Like Laure, Racela, 30, the youngest coach in the four-year history of the MBA to win a Conference and National crown, got all the votes of the press corps to cop the Coach-of-the-Year honors.

"Salamat, salamat sa inyong lahat," said Racela. "I want to offer this award of course to the Lord and to my family, my wife, my daughter, my Mom and Dad and my brothers who supported me and sacrificed a lot for me. Also, I’d like to thank the management of the Blades and all my players for their trust and support."

Aside from Laure, others who were named to the Mythical Team are his teammates Adducul and Compton, Ferriols and Chito Victolero of Andok’s San Juan Knights.

Reynel Hugnatan of the Negros Slashers, a homegrown hero from Talisay, Negros Occidental, was the unanimous winner for the Most Improved Player award while TPG Davao Eagles pointguard Peter June Simon ran away with the Discovery-of-the-Year award.

Meanwhile, Knights lanky center Omanzie Rodriguez, who was also the league’s top shot block artist, was chosen as the Defensive Player of the Year.

MBA Commissioner Butch Antonio, who made the official announcement of the winners yesterday, said the Commissioner’s Office will announce the date of the awarding ceremonies.