Bleacher Talk

It’s that time of the school-year when you’ll see Facebook posts about schools participating, winning (or losing) in what they’ll refer to as “District Meets.” What are these? It’s actually the starting point of a series of multi-sport events that starts at the lowest/district level, climbs up to the division meet and on to the regional meet before it tops off with the Palarong Pambansa. This is managed by the Department of Education as it implements the Palarong Pambansa Act of 2013. Various district meets were held all over the province over the past two weeks, with each district normally composed of both public and private schools that are clustered based on geography/location. The district is defined by the DepEd with each district managed by a point person. This position is called the district supervisor, OIC or manager.   The events played at the Palarong Pambansa are also supposed to be the same events held at the lowest level. These are athletics (track & field), ar

The University of Southern Philippines Foundation dug deep to score a come-from-behind 77-69 win over Sisters of Mary School-Boystown to bag the championship of the Cebu Youth Basketball League Under 18 tournament at the USPF Gym over the weekend. SMS-Boystown started hot, controlling the game and putting up a 33-18 lead midway through the second period, the biggest lead of the game. USPF then slowly but surely crawled its way back to the game slicing the lead to 36-47 by halftime. It was a steep climb of a rally for USPF as SMS-Boytown maintained leads of as many as nine points through most of the third period, the last at 51-43. The Baby Panthers then unleashed a 13-0 run that caught SMS-Boystown flat-footed, with Kline Ochavo drilling the go-ahead triple for a 52-51 lead that stretched to 56-51 before SMS-Boystown would find a basket, 56-53 at the end of the third period. USPF went on a 6-0 run to kick off the fourth period to enjoy its biggest lead at 62-53. SMS-Boystown

While the CESAFI may be known more for its basketball tournament, players and products, not to be outdone are the other events that quietly kicked off their respective games last week and go full blast through September and October. And like basketball, games are competitive with no clear solid favorite to win it all. The volleyball and football tournaments have rolled off and each has its own unique character and image. CESAFI Volleyball is a brand waiting for the right moment to rise and I hope it does. One of the biggest advantages that volleyball has over basketball and football is that they are staging their games in the different gyms of the CESAFI member schools. In a way, they are adopting a modified home-and-away format that could (some say should) be used by other sports (maybe basketball?). Games for boys high school volleyball yesterday were played at the SHS-Ateneo de Cebu campus in Canduman, Mandaue. Games for girls high school volleyball will be played today at t

Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu scored its second straight Passerelle Division championship as it overcame the University of the Visayas, 68-61, to rule the 34 th   SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament backed by Milo at the Alta Vista Golf and Country Club Gym. The Magis Eagles seized control of the game in the second period, built a commanding lead in the third before fighting off a UV rally in the end game to win the championship. The defending champions took a 17-11 lead after the first period as Joseph Dytian delivered eight points in the period. MVP Joash Cutamora and Rafael Arradaza then combined for 17 points in the second period to put up a 34-25 halftime lead. It was the third period set that broke the game open as they built a 52-32 lead behind three triples of Alden Cainglet and leadership of Jared Bahay. But UV countered to slice the lead to 56-43 by the end of the third period. With momentum on its side, UV put up a furious end-game rally, slicing the lead to six points

With all the attention of the basketball world on FIBA Basketball World Cup in China, it’s also time to come back home, isn’t it? With the PBA on its off-season, Pinoy basketball these days are trained on the UAAP, NCAA and our very own CESAFI. These are the top three school-based leagues in the country, (bias is ours), and produce most of the top stars of the country. When we were watching Gilas Pilipinas play in China, the play of CJ Perez and Robert Bolick drew the attention of fans and analysts. With us on the trip was Paul Supan, the athletic director of Jose Rizal University, who said that they have a Filipino tagline “Galing NCAA.” And so when Perez and Bolick would step up and deliver, he would immediately say, “Galing NCAA yan,” obviously using the two meanings of the word “galing” to describe the players. They both came from the NCAA and are also topnotch players. Galing, di ba? The NCAA is deep into its basketball season now while the UAAP and CESAFI just started the

SHS-Ateneo vs. UV in Passerelle Finals Defending champions Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu and the University of the Visayas set another showdown for the championship of the Passerelle division of the 34 th BEST Center SBP Passerelle Twin Tournament backed by Milo after winning their semifinal round assignments yesterday at the Sacred Heart School Mango avenue campus yesterday. SHS-Ateneo cruised past Southwestern University-PHINMA, 56-26, while UV overcame University of San Carlos, 41-32. The top-seeded Magis Eagles banked on a strong second period to break open a close game and oust the fourth seeded Baby Cobras. After the game was tied at 12-all at the end of the first period, the defending champs opened up a 29-17 lead at halftime behind the offense of Michael Asoro and Joash Cutamora. The lead ballooned to 44-21 after three periods with Froilan Maglasang drilling two triples as part of his eight points in the period. It was cruise control all the way

There’s a new Boys Under 18 3X3 champion for Central Visayas and they’re from Dumaguete. Asian College proved that being a rookie team in the tournament wasn’t a concern as they toppled Minglanilla B, 21-14, to bag the championship of the SBP Under 18 3X3 Pambansang Tatluhan Regional Finals held over the weekend at the Sisters of Mary School-Boystown in Minglanilla, Cebu. Meanwhile, Cebu City held on to its dominance in the girls division after nipping Carmen A, 14-13 for the championship. Asia College dominated Minglanilla B in an abbreviated championships game that ended with 2:10 left in the game after reaching 21 points first. They led from start to end and were never threatened. Justine Jay Ragay 9 led Asian College with nine points while Joshua Genesis Vincoy added eight. Ian Kyle Pardillo led Minglanilla B with eight. In the game for third place, defending champion SMS-Boystown A defeated FPA-Dumaguete, 15-10. Asian College went undefeated throughout the tournament, swee

Lost in China: Reflections When this bleacher bum goes to a place he has never visited before, he doesn’t mind getting lost, literally getting lost; to get to know the place as much as possible: the people, culture, food, the sights and more. While spending time in Guangzhou and Foshan in China however, I had a funny feeling that the team I was rooting for also got lost in the hugeness of China, or was it lost in this massive event called the FIBA World Cup? It was something that we wished didn’t happen, but did. I’m fine with getting lost, knowing that I’ll surely find my way back to my hotel and eventually my home sweet home of Cebu, loaded with notes of experience, learning many new and interesting things and hoping to use these to become a better and more well-rounded person. I’m sure Gilas Pilipinas and the entire basketball-mad country also feels exactly the same way and will bounce back humbled and raring to step up to the plate and level up with the rest of the FIBA.