The City Traffic-Talisay Office Development Authority (CT-Toda) is the inaugural champions of the Veco Friendship Cup after beating CPPO in their finals showdown last Thursday night at the Benedicto College gymnasium in Mandaue City.
/RAY CHARLIE DIAZ
THE City Traffic-Talisay Office Development Authority (CT-Toda) crushed the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO) Basketball Club, 99-76 Thursday night to rule the inaugural Visayan Electric Company (Veco) Friendship Cup at the Benedicto College Gym in Mandaue City.
James Fuentes led CT-Toda’s title-clinching win with 18 points while Saul Hortellano led CPPO with 12 markers.
Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office-7 (PRO-7) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) bagged the third place trophy with a, 91-83 conquest of the Mandaue City basketball team. Ale Genesis Gonzales led PRO-7 with 19 markers.
The winners won trophies and cash: P10,000 for the champion, P7,000 for the second placer, P5,000 for the third placer and P3,000 for the fourth-ranked team.
Clarito Hernando Jr. of CT-Toda was named Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Ten teams competed in the league from the different stakeholders of Veco including the police, media and traffic enforcers.
Police teams include Mandaue City Police Office (MCPO), Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), CPPO and PNP PRO-7.
Among the traffic enforcers were CT-Toda and the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (CiTOM), while media teams include GMA-7 and The Nomads. Also competing were the Mandaue City basketball team and the host team, Veco.
The event was officiated by the Cebu Basketball Referees Association (CeBRA) with Alejandro Monilar as Tournament Commisioner. Referees included Luisito Canen, Nestor Sullano and Benny Dela Cruz with table official Ruben Canen.
Eric Ching, the reputation head of Veco is hoping to attract more teams for the second conference.
“We hope that this coming second conference, there will be more participants,” Ching said. “And we hope it will still be as successful as how the tournament turned out today,” he added.
The tournament started last October and Ching is looking forward to organizing the same event in the middle of 2018.