Cebu basketball in 2019
Cebu Basketball in 2019 was another interesting one, with the “usual suspects” dominating the scene along with a few pleasant surprises. These range from the national all the way to the local scene.
A regular and “no surprise” of the year has been the dominance of June Mar Fajardo of Pinamungajan as the country’s best player. Despite being teamed with a souped-up line-up at San Miguel Beer, he is still the main man of the Beermen and led the team to their two PBA conference championships of 2019 season. He has also been a mainstay of Gilas Pilipinas, seeing action in all of the national team’s games, capped by a stint at the FIBA Basketball World Cup held in China. He also played recently at the 30th Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) where he won a first-ever gold medal. Right beside him is Talisay’s Roger Pogoy who also played for Gilas Pilipinas in the FIBA World Cup but was out on an injury for the SEAG. Another Cebuano in Greg Slaughter replaced him and ex-UV big man added his first international medal to his collection.
The pleasant surprise came in collegiate basketball where Southwestern University-PHINMA won the CESAFI championship, a first CESAFI title for Coach Mike Reyes after making Cebu his home a decade ago. It was a well-deserved title for Coach Mike who had always coaches in the shadows of Yayoy Alcoseba at SWU-PHINMA and Jay Ramirez in USC. The Cobras also won the CESAFI Partner’s Cup tournament, the pre-season tournament of the CESAFI.
High School basketball also pulled off a couple of surprises. Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu overcame the odds to win its fifth CESAFI high school championship over pre-season favorites University of Cebu, University of the Visayas and University of San Jose Recoletos. USJR, UV and UC had similar tall, long and athletic line-ups, with USJR winning the pre-season CESAFI Partner’s Cup but Coach Rommel Rasmo proved that a team with a system could overcome a team that’s loaded with talent. Meanwhile, the SWU-PHINMA high school team pulled off a surprise of its own when it won the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) Cebu championship over USJR and qualified for the national finals in Manila. SHS-Ateneo de Cebu had also won the CVIRAA gold medal to earn the right to represent the region at the Palarong Pambansa.
Under 12 and Elementary basketball was an all-UV show. The SBP Lancers won a historical national championship at the 34th SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament backed by Milo, stunning four-peat national champions La Salle Greenhills in the championship game held in Roxas City. The national title capped a season of championships that included the Visayas and Cebu championships of the SBP Passerelle tournament and a second straight CESAFI title in the Under 12 division. No other team has come close to even giving UV a scare all year-long.
A most welcome sight in 2019 has been the holding of tournaments in the open division. At last week’s Mayor Edgar Labella Christmas Basketball League, a host of six teams saw action with a mix of current collegiate standouts, former college players, a pro and ex-pros led by the Cebuano hotshot Dondon Hontiveros and JR Quiñahan of NLEX. The Cebu City Sports Institute was packed with fans hungry for basketball action (above the collegiate level). But why is this is significant? We haven’t had a regular league or tournament at this level and we hope that this could be a start of more open basketball to come. Minglanilla also hosted a similar tournament earlier in the year in what has been an annual event for the town. The irony of it all is that many panalay leagues take place in Mindanao with players coming in all the way from Manila to see action. But we in Cebu have limited access to such tournaments. The good news is that it looks like we’ll now see more of these in 2020.
But “below” all these in the Cebu Basketball pyramid are the hundreds of games played in the numerous leagues at either the grassroots/age-group and recreational levels. Many of these will not see much media space but have kept basketball alive and kicking. The Governor’s Cup 2019 ran a third Under 21 edition while Congressmen Samsam Gullas and Red Durano held their respective age group tournaments: the Samsam Gullas Cup and Red Durano Cup. At the youth level, the Cebu Youth Basketball League partnered with the MVP Sports Foundation, Smart, Cebu Landmasters Inc. and PAGCOR to set up the ongoing MYBL-Cebu, a youth-based league featuring 115 teams playing in three age groups: Under 18, Under 15 and Under 12. Other youth-based leagues include the Private Schools Developmental League (PSDL), Mandaue City Amateur Basketball Association (MACABA) and all those run by LGUs and private initiatives. And how can we forget the coaches and referees? Both groups had their respective workshop/clinics for accreditation, with the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas running the show. Multi-titled Coach Jong Uichico conducted a clinic/seminar for coaches while the SBP Referees Academy under Coach Ryan Gregorio took care of the referees.
Looking back, it was a pretty good year for Cebu Basketball, wasn’t it?
- Latest
