PBA All-Star festivities begin today in CDO
THE FIRST wave of delegation of Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) All-Star participants begins the festivities in Cagayan de Oro today as fans will get a chance to meet their favorite players in a mall activity inside the Centrio Mall on the eve of the All-Star Game at the Xavier University Gym.
The delegation is expected to arrive early morning and will make a courtesy call on Misamis Oriental Mayor Oscar Moreno before lunchtime.
A staunch supporter of basketball, Misamis Oriental has always been in the calendar of PBA provincial games.
One of the activities set for today is a basketball clinic, sponsored by HMR Trading, Mueller, Peak, Crystal Clear, Anako, Davco, Smart, Cloudfone and Petron and to be conducted by All-Star coach Chito Victolero of the Star Hotshots.
On Wednesday, the first of three scheduled matches arranged as part of the preparations of the Gilas Pilipinas men’s basketball team for the SEABA Men’s Basketball Championship will unfurl.
On deck to face Gilas is the PBA Mindanao All-Stars.
Also spicing up the event is the Shooting Stars event to be participated in by Mindanaoan players Cyrus Baguio, Glenn Khobuntin and Jio Jalalon.
Messrs. Baguio, Khobuntin and Jalalon later will lead the Mindanao selection that also includes Troy Rosario, Mark Barroca, Scottie Thompson, PJ Simon, Rafi Reavis, Mo Tautuaa, Sonny Thoss, Carlo Lastimosa and Baser Amer.
The stars from Mindanao will face the first batch of Gilas team, which is composed of Terrence Romeo, LA Revilla, Mike Tolomia, RR Pogoy, Matthew Wright, Kevin Ferrer, Carl Bryan Cruz, Alfonso Gotladera, Bradwyn Guinto and June Mar Fajardo.
“I’m happy and excited to be playing the first leg of the PBA All- Star Week here in Cagayan de Oro. The people of CDO have been a very generous host to the PBA in all its undertaking. They deserve nothing but the best and I guarantee they will have a wonderful time watching their own battle against Gilas Pilipinas,” said PBA Commissioner Chito Narvasa.
Two other PBA select teams tangle with the Gilas training team in Lucena on Friday and in Cebu on Sunday.
In Lucena, Messrs. Wright, Guinto, Cruz, Ferrer, Tolomia, Arnold Van Opstal, Ed Daquiaog, Almond Vosotros, Jonathan Grey, Raymond Almazan, Norbert Torres and Allein Maliksi don the Gilas jersey.
They will go up against the Leo Austria-coached Luzon stars of Japeth Aguilar, Calvin Abueva, Alex Cabagnot, LA Tenorio, Marcio Lassiter, Stanley Pringle, Jayson Castro, Jay Washington, Paul Lee, Mark Caguioa, Arwind Santos.
In Cebu, Messrs. Castro, Jalalon, Aguilar, Rosario, Abueva, Revilla, Pogoy, Maliksi, Pessumal and Almazan make the Gilas team.
They will face Visayan stars Fajardo, Romeo, Joe Devance, Jeff Chan, James Yap, Chris Ross, Chris Ellis, Aldrech Ramos, Dondon Hontiveros, Ronald Tubid, Asi Taulava and Jericho Cruz, with Tim Cone as coach.
The Gilas Final 12 for the SEABA Championship will be announced by national coach Chot Reyes after the Lucena match. —