GABISAN Shipping Lines hoisted the title in the 2016 Macrohon Fiesta Open Basketball Tournament as it outhustled Emil’s Fresh Chicken, 101-92, in the winner-take-all championship game the other day in the town of Macrohon, Southern Leyte.
Powered by Cesafi MVP, Shooster Olago, who scored a whopping 37 points and a relentless defense that limited Emil’s top gun, Eliud Poligrates, to just 15 points, Gabisan Shipping was able to emerge triumphant in the tournament that was part of the celebration of the municipality of Macrohon, a place that was hit hard by Supertyphoon Yolanda several years back.
Emil’s Fresh Chicken got 36 points from former PBA player Rudy Lingganay but it was not enough.
The competition was made possible by the efforts of Mayor Alan Jose Kuizon Aroy and league organizer Van Halen Parmis, the lead scout and assistant of the University of the Visayas.
In an interview, Parmis said that he is hopeful that the tournament will pave the way for the expansion of the Philippine Commercial Basketball League to include teams from the Visayas and Mindanao in order to showcase the talents of Cebuano basketball players and at the same time, give them a more stable means of putting food on the table.
“Basketball is a God-given skill that has become a source of living for most of the players. Out of doing what they love on court, they gain instant livelihood. Not only that, imagine what it is like to earn out of merely doing what you love? That is the gift this game has given to most of our ballers of this generation,” said Parmis.
Third place honors went the way of the city of Bogo which beat JB Enterprises, 110-88.
Former University of San Carlos reinforcement Ahmed Salihou scored 22 to give Bogo the victory.