By ADRIAN STEWART CO
Paul Barcelona and Shark 3×3 Basketball Team ruled the Visayas leg of The BEST Center’s Coach Nic Jorge 3×3 Cup held recently at the Barotac Viejo Municipal Gymnasium in Iloilo province.
Barcelona, a standout of St. John’s Institute-Bacolod, dominated with 10 points as Team Shark scored a 12-6 victory over Cebu in the championship round.
Aside from Barcelona, who is being managed by Virtual Playground, also part of Bacolod City’s Team Shark were Jerry Binguan III, Tobby Orbista and Ace Cortejo.
In the elimination round, Barcelona, Binguan, Orbista, and Cortejo dominated their opponents from Cebu (9-7), Iloilo (15-2) and Roxas (15-7).
After the single round robin eliminations, Team Shark and Cebu advanced to the gold medal match after finishing in the top two with 3-0 and 2-1 win-loss records, respectively.
“It felt really great that our team got the championship for the Visayas finals,” Barcelona said.
“We’ve prepared for this and I’m just happy that all the hard work has paid off for this league,” he added.
Team Shark earned the right to represent Western Visayas in the finals after topping the Region 6 leg by defeating St. John’s institute A & D, the NYBC and Bobcats Talisay in the eliminations, and University of St. La Salle in the finals.
Team Shark will now represent Visayas in the national finals, where they will compete against the champions in the Mindanao, Luzon and National Capital Region legs.
“As parents, we appreciate the effort Paul has put through every day in basketball,” Paul’s father, Pete Barcelona said.
“We see how passionate he is with playing the game,” he said.
“To be able to make it to win the finals is a big achievement. I, as his father, have been a participant during my younger years and I know how it feels to be able to win the title,” he added.
Pete also bared that several Manila-based schools — the National University, Ateneo de Manila University and San Beda University — have expressed interest in securing his commitment.
“I have been receiving calls from Manila-based schools and we are studying all their offers, but we want Paul to focus first on his career in Bacolod since he is only Grade 10,” Pete said./ASC, WDJ