By Adrian Stewart Co
Iloilo City-based Elite Lab and Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts ruled the 1st Mayor Joedith C. Gallego Invitational Basketball Tournament on Sunday night, July 10, at the NGVSSC Gym in Silay City, Negros Occidental.
Led by Most Valuable Player (MVP) awardee Irele Galas, the Elite Lab captured the 21-under category championship with an 88-73 beating of University of St. La Salle (USLS)-Bacolod in the finals.
The Elite Lab quickly jumped to a double-digit lead behind the exploits of Galas, Oscar Roy Jacinto, Rolen Pantin, and John Amagan. By fourth quarter, the Ilonggo squad was already comfortably ahead by 19 markers.
The victory also served as a bounce back for the John Guanco-mentored crew after being beaten by the USLS-Bacolod during the opening day of the pocket tournament last Thursday, 91-88.
“It was an added motivation to the players because USLS defeated us during the preliminaries,” said Elite Lab team manager Eugene Chua. “The players also gave their all from start to finish, despite the tiring schedule, here in the finals.”
Also in the team were Kent Parrenas, Moisis dela Cruz, Ryan Futalan, Renel Jopillo, Edrian de Guzman, Gwyn Pendon, RJ Delina, Erlance Pedrita, Matt Atanas, Lorenzo Yu, Laurence Chua, Jose Pet, Luis Sitchon, Leo Lumawag, and John Suarez.
Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts, on the other hand, bagged the championship in the 18-under category after defeating 1Silay Sports All-Stars in the finals.
Dylan Despi was hailed as the MVP for the Thunderbolts, which had a near-perfect campaign in the tournament as they won over 1Silay and Ateneo de Cebu before losing a close one to Ateneo de Iloilo.
Also in the squad were Mike Estelloso, Marvin de los Santos, Rafael Ledesma, Adriele Binguan, Johnray Castiller, Jose Palafox, Josh Dignadice, Ranzford Boadan, Vince Hugo, Ronn Bedonia, Kian Ramos, Philip Sison, and Carl Jalea.
“I am glad that the players showed their hunger and determination to go all the way to reach our goals,” said Thunderbolts head coach Yong Despi. “This was huge for the team since we just had a limited preparation for this tournament.”/ASC, WDJ
