Bleacher Talk

Bleacher Talk March 31, 2019 Basketball in the Fifth Summer is officially on us and one of the sports events that we look forward to are the grassroots tournaments that take place in the probinsya. On our side of Cebu is the ongoing 9 th  edition of the Cong. Red Durano Cup, a basketball tournament featuring players 18 years old and younger from the tem municipalities and lone city of the fifth district. These are Danao (defending champion), San Francisco (2018 runner-up), Liloan, Compostela, Carmen, Catmon, Sogod, Borbon, Pilar, Poro and Tudela. I had heard of the Durano Cup (also called the Congressional Cup) before, more because of the rise of ex-PBA player Eliud Poligrates of Poro who once played for the Southwestern University Cobras in the CESAFI. Poligrates was a highlight type of a player (point guard) who liked to wow the crowd with his fancy moves and ball-handling skills. While this wasn’t exactly pleasing to the eyes of his coache...

Alab’s Ride Leads to Cebu It sure looks like it’s been a very interesting ride for San Miguel Alab Pilipinas in the Asean Basketball League. The ABL ends its regular season/classification phase with four games today including Alab’s away game in Saigon. The playoffs start on Friday, March 29. And yes, Alab will play its first ever home playoff game in Cebu on Friday at the Hoops Dome. Their opponent will be known tonight after all games have been played (more on that later). That has been the good news so far for Alab but I’m not sure if the ride is something which Coach Jimmy Alapag and the Alab management has been ecstatic about. The Cebu sports media with the guests: Andrew Teh, Charlie Dy, Jimmy Alapag & Dondon Hontiveros. After a hot start that saw the team breezing through its games, Alab was almost unbeatable and was at the top of the team standings for most of the regular season up until around last week when they ran into some turbule...

#cybl #cebuyouthbasketballleague

--> Bleacher Talk March 17, 2019 CYBL 2018-2019 Allow me to take time out from the usual and write about one of our personal baby projects (with the permission from my sports editors Manny and Lemuel). It’s the Cebu Youth Basketball League or CYBL. What started out as a fringe league in 2008 has now bloomed to become one of the biggest in Cebu. Yet how we pulled it through for the past years? I can’t really explain it. Over the weekend, we close the CYBL 3 rd Conference for the school-year 2018-2019 with a series of championship games. This latest edition featured a total of 154 teams spread over four age groups and two divisions. We split up the ballclubs into two divisions. Division 1 is for the more established ballclubs and schools, while Division 2 is for the smaller schools, ballclubs and Team Bs of the stronger schools. Division 1’s major age groups are Under 12, Under 15 and Under 18. Division 2 also features the same U12, U15 and U18 age groups, a...

--> UV, USPF, SHS-Ateneo Win CYBL Titles By Rico Navarro In a rare display of a balance of powers, the University of the Visayas, University of Southern Philippines Foundation and Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu snared the championships of the premier age groups of Division 1 of the Cebu Youth Basketball League 2018-2019 3 rd Conference yesterday at the SHS-Ateneo de Cebu Mango Avenue campus gym. UV started the ball rolling by thumping SHS-Ateneo de Cebu, 57-25 for the Under 12 age group title. USPF won its first ever CYBL title, surprising UV, 57-55. And SHS-Ateneo de Cebu nearly collapsed before closing out Sisters of Mary School-Boystown, 52-41, for the Under 18 age group championship. In the Under 12 finals, it was an all-UV show from start to finish as the Baby Lancers jumped to a 35-13 halftime lead after taking a 16-10 lead at the end of the first period. It was cruise control from then on as they swept all six major tournaments played this school-ye...