Saturday, December 23, 2006 Bacolod cager shines in PBL shootout By Henry C. Villalva
FORMER University of St. La Salle varsity high school cager Jeff Chan, a prized guard for Magnolia Ice Cream in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL) wound up third with a total of 16 conversions in the three-point shootout competition of the 2006 PBL Showcase individual competitions last Wednesday at the Parañaque Sports Center.
Chan of Bacolod City, a member of the last Far Eastern University Tamaraws champion squad in the UAAP, finished behind second-placer Fil-Am Josh Urbiztondo of Kettle Korn-UST who finished with 18 points.
Adamson University hotshot Patrick Cabahug, nephew of former PBA star Elmer 'Boy' Cabahug, topped the shootout with 19 points.
Meanwhile, unheralded Rey Guevarra of Toyota Otis upset hot favorites JC Intal of Harbour Centre and Elmer Espiritu of Main and More to rule the much-anticipated slam-dunk competition.
Guevarra relegated his more fancied opponents to the sidelines when he executed a stunning dunk-a jump from twelve feet out and over a boy standing in the middle.
Hapee Toothpaste-PCU's Jason Castro dominated the skills challenge to emerge as the fastest amateur cager in the country today.
Castro's coach, former Negros Slashers mentor Jun Noel, told Sun.Star in an interview over the phone yesterday, he is happy with Castro's feat.
"Jason is a hard worker. I know he prepared for this and he really deserves the win. I know this will inspire him more to play well and hard for our team," Noel said.
In a related development, a team insider told Sun.Star the TeleTech Titans team in the PBL may be disbanded after the end of the year following a dismal performance in the country's premier amateur league this season.
"The company's bigwicks have decided to just re-channel the funds spent on the basketball team to employee development and charity involvement since losing has given TeleTech bad publicity," the source said.
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