The ICC Bluehawks Manila is the champion of the 2022 Macrohon Invitational Inter-Collegiate 25 Under Basketball Tournament after the team beat the UC Webmasters in the finals. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Immaculada Concepcion College (ICC) Bluehawks Manila ruled the 2022 Macrohon Invitational Inter-Collegiate 25 Under Basketball Tournament which ran from Sept. 17 to Sept. 20, 2022, at the Macrohon municipal covered court in Southern Leyte.
This as the Bluehawks defeated the University of Cebu (UC) Webmasters in the championship match, 91-81, to bag the P100,000 purse.
Meanwhile, the Webmasters which is gearing up for the upcoming Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (Cesafi) on Oct. 15, 2022, didn’t go empty-handed as they received the runners-up prize worth P75,000.
The UC Webmasters is second place and brought home a P75,000 prize in the 2022 Macrohon Invitational Inter-Collegiate 25 Under Basketball Tournament. They were beaten by the ICC Bluehawks Manila in the finals. | Contributed photo
Ian Torres of ICC Bluehawks bagged the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) plum after leading his team to an unbeaten 5-0 (win-loss) run, including their win in the finals.
In the battle for third, Ormoc OCCCI Sheermasters routed the City of Maasin selection, 113-80. The Sheermasters earned P50,000, while Maasin pocketed P30,000, and RD Pawnshop Cebu Selection, the bottom-ranked team received P20,000.
Alan Jose Aroy, Macrohon town mayor and the main organizer of this basketball tournament, said they were planning to add two to three more teams for next year’s edition.
“We are looking at adding two or three more collegiate teams, especially those with 25 years old and under players to compete for next year,s tournament,” said Aroy.
“We wanted to adopt this kind of concept because we’ve hosted national level players, former PBA players and commercial league players before, but we realized that young players ages 25-below don’t have enough exposure to tournaments like this. So, we’re optimistic for more collegiate teams next year,” he said.
Aroy also said that the Saint Michael the Archangel Parish-Macrohon would be the one to organize next year’s tournament, while the town LGU would be its primary backers.
The cagefest in Macrohon was part of the town’s annual fiesta for their patron, Saint Michael the Archangel.
This tournament is also one of the major invitational basketball tilts in the Visayas as it pits various teams from around the country.
It’s also where PBA MVP and Cebuano basketball star Junemar Fajardo played his first out-of-town tournament back when he was with the Webmasters.
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