LSC Basketball Tournament, SY 1992-93

Reprinted from The La Sallian Center GLIMPSE Newsletter
January – April 1993
Written by DyLac

“Taga amo! Taga amo!” cheers the Brgy. Cebu as Brian connects on a “poster shot” as in you don’t want to be the guy standing on the floor, looking in the sky, in one of those basketball posters.

It all started when LSC Sports Commissioner Phel Jara decided to organize this sports event with the big help from Mrs. Macaraeg. She pledged for the medals and the cash prize.

Fourteen teams with three players each were formed. The fourteen teams were, in bracket A: The Bodyguards (Bongers, Mao and Erwin), Fish Lips Gang (Bong Cute, Bruce and Junjun), Lacoste Boys (Walter, Marky B and Joseph), New kids on the Black (Brian, Arvin and Anthony), Princepe “K” (Reymont, Melvin and Michael), Chris-Tiyan and the Callboys (Christian, Randy and Magic) and Ja Cool Kids (Jigger, Johnny and Jolly). In bracket B: Beijing All Stars (Dennis, Awi and Warren), Phel Jam (Phel, John and Abe), No Noise (Dean, Jumbo and Atik), Ok Kabuto Ko (Tony, Carlo and Cromwell), Ani-Anino (Yancy, Martin and Rommel), Baca-Rats (Gio, Genmar and Erick) and Gene’s Chonggos (Francis, Gene and Dylan).

LSC Basketball junkies believed that the tournament would be a repeat of last years championship between 1992 MVP Dennis Que and All-Star Forward Christian Relova. They felt that the two best teams were Beijings and Chris-Tiyan powered by the guys mentioned above. This was proven wrong by the performances of some surprisingly good teams.

The eight best teams in both brackets who survived the eliminations advanced to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, New Kids defeated Kabuto; Chris-Tiyan overpowered Phel Jam; Beijing whipped Lacoste Boys and the Chonggos rolled over Princepe “K.” As we move on to further action in the semifinals, the New Kids outshot Chris-Tiyan while the Chonggos upset Beijing.

The finals featured a battle of two very lucky teams. The down and dirty defensive Chonggos and the crowd-fave New Kids used up the length of the best of three series for the finals. The Chonggos won Game 1, 50 – 49 via Francis’ free throw despite 26 points by Brian. The New Kids and the Brgy. Cebu took Game 2 and leveled the series at one game a piece with a 51 – 49 win behind Arvin’s 24 points. The momentum was on the New Kids’ side but the Francis-Gene-Dylan trio wouldn’t give up. They put some “heavy D” and poured in the points needed to take the final game and win the series, 51 – 46 with Francis and Dylan scoring 20 points a piece and Gene taking care of the rebounds. He pulled down more rebounds than points.

The Most Valuable Player award went to Brian while Genmar bagged the Rookie of the Year. Now the Chonggos know how other teams in the PBA would feel if they were playing against crowd-fave Ginebra.