East teams topple West counterparts; UC’s Puerto wins dunk crown
Garciano Puerto of UC Web Masters is the CESAFI Season 16 Slum dunk champion at Cebu Coliseum.(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)
The East All Stars completed a clean sweep of the high school and college all-star games as they bested their West counterparts in the annual Cesafi All-Star Games on Sunday at the Cebu Coliseum.
The East beat the West, 92–73, in the high school match before their collegiate counterparts ended the day with a 74–69 win over the West.
Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma star Macmac Tallo was named the collegiate game’s MVP as he piled up 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. He was joined in the game’s Mythical Five by his East teammates Conrad Catapusan of the University of San Carlos (USC), who helped anchor the East’s, and turned the team’s fortunes around from a 35–40 halftime deficit into a 56–54 lead heading to the final canto.
The University of Cebu’s (UC) Gileant Delator and the West’s Jerome Napao and Josue Segumpan, both of the University of the Visayas (UV) completed the Mythical quintet.
The East got off to a fast start and led, 24–19, but the West took over in the second, fueled by an 11–0 run highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers by Miguel Gastador that put them ahead, 30–24 and 40–35 at the turn.
But the East got going in the third and grabbed the lead back, 56–54, heading to the fourth as Catapusan ended that stretch with five straight points.
In the fourth, the East pushed themselves in front, 69–61, after a lefty layup by Gileant Delator and a triple by Macmac Tallo. The West trimmed the deficit to three, 68–71, but the East just would not be denied the victory as SWU veteran Ian Ortega leaked out for a transition layup that upped their lead to 73–68, 31.7 seconds remaining.
In the high school all-star game, Don Bosco forward Al Mendez shone the brightest as he registered a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds and was named as the game’s MVP.
Reigning juniors MVP, Jed Colonia, of the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, flirted with a rare triple-double as he scored 11 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out six assists.
The West squad was led by the 22 markers and 17 boards of the UV’s Jancork Cabahug.
Named to the game’s Mythical Five were the East’s Mendez and his Greywolves teammate JB Damolo and Colonia and the West’s Cabahug and James Tempra of the Cebu Eastern College.
Side events
In the side events, UV’s prized rookie guard, Tristan Albina, sizzled from beyond the arc and captured the Three-Point Shootout title as he outdueled SWU’s Mac Tallo, 16–15, in the finals.
The much-anticipated Slam Dunk Competition, however, left a lot to be desired as much like last year’s fiasco, contestants were not given replacement dunks, with misses being awarded an automatic 30 points. Much to the dismay of the crowd, Gastador, USJ-R’s high-leaping guard, failed to make it to the finals, scrapping what would have been an exciting finale between him and UV’s resident slam-dunk artist, Rey Suerte.
In the end, UC’s JR Puerto captured the Slam Dunk crown after making both his dunks in the finals. Suerte attempted a more difficult reverse slam but missed, giving the title to Puerto.
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