Team Dedication scored a 98-89 win over Team Passion to give coach Dylan Ababou a win over coach Paul Desiderio in the 2019 Chooks-to-Go NBTC Division 2 All-Star Game presented by SM, Saturday at SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Mctroi Crisostomo of Holy Trinity College-General Santos top-scored for Team Dedication with 17 points while also grabbing six rebounds.
With that, the fearless guard earned Most Outstanding Player honors in one of the showpiece events of the national championship for high school backed by Chooks-to-Go, Darlington-Exped Socks, EPSON, Huawei, Freego, Purefoods, Gatorade, Go for Gold, SM, Molten and also presented by 5 Plus and Lighthouse Events.
“Masaya ako kasi ako at si Paul, na-share namin mga natutunan namin through the years,” said Ababou who now plays for the Pasig Grindhouse Kings in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas 3×3. “Masaya kami na nakinig naman sila.
“Improve every day, hone your skills, listen more, keep learning, mag-aral nang mag-aral,” the star of the Pasig Grindhouse Kings went on, sharing his advice to the Division 2 standouts.
Crisostomo shot a blistering 7-for-12 from the field, including three triples. He was aggressive all game long and spearheaded the attack for his squad.
“Masaya ako na siya coach ko kasi marami kaming natutunan sa kanila,” said Crisostomo.
Team Dedication found their rhythm in the second half where they outscored Team Passion, 48-41.
Along with Crisostomo, Top Flight Hoops-Vancouver’s Jeric Palma was superb with 15 points and six boards while Perpetual JONELTA-Laguna’s Michael Homo added 10.
Ababou’s boys leaned on a well-balanced offense to carry them to victory as eight players finished with at least seven points.
Team Dedication also received huge contributions from Lloyd Borbe and Medwin Ariate of Sto. Domingo NHS-Legazpi, John Paras of Perpetual JONELTA-Laguna, Magnus Ines of University of Baguio, Junnie Perdido of St. Mary’s College of Tagum-Davao del Norte, Ralph Bajon of Sta. Clarita International School-Iloilo, Drexler Villanueva of SWU-PHINMA, Chiolo Anonuevo and Vince Gomez of Team Italy Europe Proudly Pinoy, Kit Aviso Mramor of Top Flight Hoops-Vancouver, and Reimar Cruz and Tyler Martin of Camp David-New Zealand.
For Team Passion, John Barba of Lyceum-Cavite wound up with 18 points while Harvey Sanchez of SWU PHINMA-Cebu put up 16 points.
“First time ko mag-coach. Hirap pala maging coach, sakit sa ulo,” said NBTC alum Desiderio, who is part of the 23 of 2023 cadets, with a laugh. “Dito rin ako nanggaling. Happy ako na nakapagbigay naman ako ng advice sa kanila. Nire-remind ko sila na pareho lang kami, galing din ako sa province so work hard lang.”
Desiderio’s side was also boosted by Jarlo Ningasca of Holy Trinity College-General Santos, John Bravo and Ken Laquibla of First City Providential College-Bulacan, Joshua Guiab of Calayan Educational Foundation, Inc.-Quezon, Paulo Casia of Narvacan NHS-Candon, Jiam Quiambao of St. Augustine Institute-Pampanga, Icy Patrocino of St. Louis Don Bosco-Dumaguete, Vance Caterbas of Southern Philippines College-Cagayan de Oro, Mark Picardal and Robert Norombaba of Dolores NHS-Eastern Samar, Ken Pondoc of Zamboanga del Sur NHS-Pagadian, Steven Tono of Sta. Clarita International School-Iloilo, Justin Ramirez of Isabela College-Cauayan, and Tyler Puletua of AusPinoy-Australia.
Meanwhile, the Division 1 All-Star Game, as well as the All-Star side events, are still to come in the centerpiece weekend of the week-long tournament being aired live on ESPN5 and streamed live over at tv5.espn.com.
The Scores:
Dedication 98 –– Crisostomo 17, Palma 15, Homo 10, Anonuevo 9, Mramor 9, Borbe 8, Bajon 8, Cruz 7, Villanueva 6, Martin 4, Ariate 4, Gomez 0, Ines 0, Perdido 0.
Passion 89 — Barba 18, Sanchez 16, Guiab 11, Puletua 10, Casia 8, Bravo 5, Ningasca 4, Tono 4, Laquibla 3, Quiambao 3, Picardal 3, Norombaba 2, Pondoc 2, Patrocino 0, Ramirez 0. Quarters: 22-29, 50-48, 73-68, 98-89.
Quarterscores: 22-29, 50-48, 73-68, 98-89.
