Cebu teams storm FilOil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup

When you’re based in a land known for the Sinulog, the sun and the sand, it’s easy to see how basketball can be often overlooked here in Cebu. With national exposure at a bare minimum and the local media coverage limited to print publications, basketball talent down south usually slip through the cracks unless they take their acts to Manila.
 
Heck, even Cebu’s collegiate champions, the University of the Visayas, a 10-time ruler of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi), barely registered a blip amongst the national cognoscenti after getting ousted from the regional qualifiers of the Philippine Collegiate Champions League (PCCL) last year.
 
This year though, Cebu’s best collegiate basketball squads get their shot at making their mark on the big stage after they were invited to compete in the country’s most prestigious preseason basketball competition, the FilOil Flying V Hanes Premier Cup. The UV Green Lancers and Cesafi third-placers University of San Carlos (USC) Warriors get their first shot at leaving a strong impression on Wednesday when they debut against the University of Perpetual Help Altas and the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers, respectively.
 
Meanwhile, Cesafi and PCCL runners-up Southwestern University play their first game on May 7 against the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers in a game that the Cobras have circled on their calendars, ever since their near free-for-all during a championship game held at the Municipality of Minglanilla several weeks back.
 
“Certainly, we have unfinished business with them,” said SWU assistant coach, Rocky Alcoseba.
 
SWU’s fiery head coach, Raul “Yayoy” Alcoseba, a local coaching legend here in Cebu, had tamer things in mind as he hopes that their second go-around in the Filoil produces better results that their 3-5 (win-loss) showing last year.
 
“It’s not a matter of the players being ‘up to it.’ They have to be. And hopefully, by the end of this tournament, we would be a better basketball team,” said Alcoseba, whose team will be banking on their core of Cesafi MVP Mark Jayven Tallo, rookie Fil-American guard JR Parker who replaced starting wingman Monbert Arong in the offseason, plus foreigners Landry Sanjo and the comebacking Justin Aboude.
 
UV on the other hand, with their relative obscurity, hopes to surprise teams with their tenacity and boldness, facets that best described the game of their head coach, 10-year veteran Felix “Donbel” Belano.
 
“I keep on telling them, ‘if these players from Manila think that they’re good, you always have to think that you’re even better,’” said Belano, the man credited with the only quadruple-double in the country’s professional basketball history.
 
“During the University Games kasi last year, medyo takot sila maglaro, lalo na nung kalaban namin yung Ateneo. Na-starstruck yata kay Kiefer Ravena. Sabi ko sa kanila na, ‘Tao lang din yan. Nagkakamali din yan!’”
 
Belano though, added the bigger challenge lies in getting his new players to buy in to the team’s system. And with half of the team’s championship core gone, including versatile forward Leonard Santillan who opted to transfer to the National University, and import Mike Nzuesseu who left the squad during the offseason, he expects bigger things from his inside-outside combination of 2013 Finals MVP John Abad and power forward Wowie Escosio, Cesafi’s first and only Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awardee.
 
But for the USC Warriors, the road to respectability starts now. Save for several short-lived appearances in the “Sweet 16” of the PCCL several years ago, the Warriors have been relative unknowns in the national scene. New head coach Junthy Valenzuela believes that they can make a splash in the Filoil tournament especially now that he sees a lot of maturity in his team.
 
They started their Manila sojourn on a high note, beating the Adamson Falcons, 67-61, in a tuneup game Mondaym before succumbing to the San Sebastian Stags, 76-79, earlier Tuesday. All this bodes well for the Warriors, whose defensive philosophies are slowly starting to resemble their coach’s.
 
“I’ve always tried to impart on them that their effort on the defensive end of the floor is more important than on the offensive end,” emphasized Valenzuela, a hard-nosed scrappy guard who rose to new heights during the heyday of the Yeng Guiao-coached Red Bull squad.
 
The Warriors boast of three imports in Tuyambe Espoir, Kataq Ibrahim and the newly-acquired Shoower Olago. All three are expected to anchor a USC team that scores the bulk of their points from the perimeter courtesy of Ian Ortega, former Mapua Cardinal Nico Magat and the Cesafi’s three-point king, Miguel Plata. - AMD, GMA News