From left, JR Quinahan, Reed Juntilla, Vincent Minguito, and Jonel Bonganciso. | Photos from Inquirer, PSL, and VisMin Super Cup
CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Znars Jewelry-Marawi City will field a line-up composed of veteran commercial players for the Sinulog Cup 2024 Basketball Tournament.
The Sinulog Cup tips off Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at the Cebu City Sports Institute.
Znars Marawi head coach Chelito Caro revealed the team’s official line-up to CDN Digital recently, saying it will be composed of veterans headed by former PBA cager JR Quiñahan from Mandaue, along with elite scorer Reed Juntilla, and Vincent Minguito.
Reinforcing the team are bigmen Rino Berame, Jonel Bonganciso, together with Manny Gabas, Melvin Butohan, Luegi Cuyos, Jhon Abad, and Geleant Delator.
Completing the team’s roster are two members of the reigning Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. (Cesafi) men’s basketball tournament champions, AJ Sacayan and Kenneth Brillo of the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers.
Caro will be joined by Bong Pineda as his assistant coach in the cash-rich tournament sponsored by the Sinulog Foundation Inc.
In an interview, team owner Abdulazis Macalandong said they want to join this tournament to represent the Muslim community in Cebu during the Sinulog Festival.
“It’s our first time joining this tournament. There are ore than 30,000 Muslims nga nagpuyo diri sa Cebu, so naa sad mi katungod mo salmot aning Sinulog Cup, para naa mi ma contribute sa Sinulog activity. Nagpasalamat mi ni Councilor Dondon (Hontiveros) ug ni coach Caro (Chelito) nga nahinayon among pagsalmot ani,” said Macalandong.
For his part, Caro decided to join the tournament with this line-up as their preparation for a bigger invitational tournament in Zamboanga Sibugay in February, which stakes over P700,000 cash prize for the champion.
Caro likes his chances in this tournament as he has been coaching some of the players in this lineup for over 10 years, except the UV players.
“Dugay nami nagkauban ani nila, gawas sa mga tag UV, mao nang salig ra ko sa akong team,” said Caro.
They will compete in bracket B together with the Chase Tower Runs, OCCCI Sheermasters, and the Cebu Roosevelt Memorial College (CRMC) Mustangs.
READ MORE: Sinulog Cup 2024: UC thrashes USJ-R, advances to tournament proper
/bmjo