By: Ohmer Bautista
In a time-constrained event where mastery of one’s individual skills and efficiency are key, Adamson University Soaring Falcon Jerom Lastimosa and De La Salle University Lady Archer Camille Claro proved to be a cut above the rest.
Lady Archer’s pint-sized guard Camille Claro, who returned from a torn ACL she incurred last season, made her post-injury debut in style by corraling the first ever Skills Challenge trophy as she zoomed past UST’s Juslyne Magat in the final dance.
Claro showed no signs of rust as she completed each and every hurdles with aplomb, leaving FEU’s Valerie Mamaril in the dust in the first round, while slipping past NU’s seasoned guard Monique Del Carmen in the ensuing bout.
Meanwhile, Lastimosa etched his name in the books as the inaugural Last One Standing Skills Challenge Champion, as he strutted his wares, all the while leaving every competitors in his wake at the Mall of Asia Atrium in Pasay City.
The skills challenge requires two players to start at the same time, going through courses that involves shooting a corner triple, dribbling around cones with one or two basketball, slinging a pass in a made-up hole, and capping it all of with an underbasket stab.
Pitted against FEU rookie James Tempra, who slithered through the first two round’s obstacle course in an almost flawless fashion, in the Finale, Lastimosa remain composed. The incoming Soaring Falcons rookie drilled his first jumper at the left corner and leaving Tempra, who fired blanks after blanks, in his wake to solidify his name as the Skills Challenge King.
Though finishing in lopsided manner, Lastimosa’s journey to the title was a steep one, as he went through the gritty Nathan Chan from Ateneo in the first run, and outlasting a feisty Bulldog in Daniel Atienza in a close-shave second round bout, wherein the winner was determined through a freethrow contest.
UP Fighting Maroon Lorenzo Battad, UE Warriors Brian Lacap, Archer-turned-Tigers Brent Paraiso, and De La Salle Archers Donn Lim completed the men’s cast while Ateneo’s Alyssa Villamor, Lady Maroons’ Gene Amar, UE’s Cristine Cortizano, and semi-finalist Lady Rose Rosario from Adamson University rounded out the women’s division.
