The past, present, and future of each NCAA school were well-represented in the first-ever All-Star Shooting Stars challenge.
Alumnus Marvin Hayes, Heavy Bomber Darius Estrella, and Light Bomber Cedell Buno blasted the opposition in record time to bad the Shooting Stars trophy Friday afternoon in the NCAA Season 92’s All-Star Friday.
“After seven years, okay na nakabalik ako dito sa NCAA,” Hayes shared. “Kumbaga na-miss ko yung crowd, na-miss ko yung media, na-miss ko lahat mga audience. Masayang masaya ako.”
The JRU trio finished the first round with the fastest time, clocking in at 43.4 seconds with Hayes knocking down the difficul halfcourt three. The Perpetual troika of Flash Sadiwa, Gielo Razon, and Doy Javier finished second with a time of 51.8 ticks.
Almost all the teams struggled with the halfcourt shot while the San Sebastian Stags trio of Ian Valdez, Kobe Canoy, and Nandy Navarro did not even finish the challenge.
“Sabi ni Sir Paul [Sunga] na ikaw na bahala diyan, ikaw ang nakakatanda sa kanila,” the 30 year old said. “Susunod naman sa iyo yan.”
“Sabi ko lang sa mga kasama ko na wala tayo pressure dito, enjoy lang natin yung moment.”
The Altas went up first, finishing their run at 1:07.6, with Doy Javier knocking down the halfcourt shot. The Heavy Bombers though blitzed the competition. JRU made three of its shots early in just 20 seconds. Buno then knocked down the halfcourt heave, only the second attempt of the Heavy Bombers, to win the competition in just 27 ticks.
“Si Estrella, kapitbahay ko yan e,” Hayes shared about the familiarity his trio displayed. “Lagi ko na kakasama yan every weekend at maglaro ng basket, papawis lang.”
“Pinapangako ko sa JRU na manonood kami ng game kasama nila John Wilson para suportahan ang team namin,” he closed.
