US team Sirius Star all set for 4th Philippine Tour

CEBU, Philippines —  Sirius Star Pilipinas, composed of basketball players from different parts of the United States with a noble mission, is all pumped up for their 4th Philippine Tour slated on September 23 to October 7.

Their three-week sojourn is a joint venture of Ball Up Sporting (BOS) of Anthony Winningham and AAA Basketball of Cebuano coach Albert Abuyabor Alocillo.

“This endeavor is born out of our common goal and commitment to bring basketball development to the grassroots,” said Alocillo during a press conference at Sunburst-Mango yesterday.

“We want to impart our basketball philosophy and other things that we can share about the sport to the youth and aspiring ballers,” added the former chief strategist of the USPF Panthers in the CESAFI and assistant coach of the UST Growling Tigers in the UAAP.

Led by Winningham, who formerly saw action with the Lincoln University (LU) Lions in the US NCAA Division 2, the other members of Sirius Star Pilipinas are Aaron Castro, Dru Smith, DaJoan Allen, Kamaal Power, Martell Miller, and Pape Alpha Gueye.

They will be backed up former USPF student-athlete Rick Onyare Managor and ex-Panther Lyndon Colina, who was picked by San Miguel Beer during the PBA Season 47 Draft last May.

“Our dream is to help as many Filipino players elevate their careers as possible. We will learn and grow together,” said the Kansas City-native Winningham. “The biggest thing (during our tour) is that we will always put on a show and entertain.”

Sirius Star’s first stop is Tagum City in Davao del Norte where they will figure in a series of exhibition games against commercial teams LYR and Montana Pawnshop, and the Holy Cross of Davao College (HCDC) Crusaders.

Upon their return to Cebu, they will take on the University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors of coach Paul Joven and the Minglanilla G-Sports Basketball League (MGBL) selection of multi-sport enthusiast Gerry Canonigo. In between that, they will travel to Bohol for another set of goodwill matches.