PAGADIAN, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR—Keanu Caballero was the top assist guy in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao Challenge preliminaries.
There, he averaged 5.3 assists per game to lead everyone in the South-based pro league. But he even put it up a notch in the playoffs.
In Pagadian’s 105-78 rout of seventh seed MFT Iligan last Saturday, Caballero dished out a conference-high 12 helpers to go with six points, four rebounds, and a steal.
“As a point guard, dapat alam ko kung ano ‘yung laro ng bawat isa. Ginagawa ko lang ‘yung trabaho ko para maging efficient kami sa court,” said the 5-foot-5 floor general.
And true to his position, Caballero said he’d rather take zero shots in the ball game as long as all his teammates get their groove going.
Against the Archangels, he only took four shots. Still, the Explorers had 11 of their 14 fielded players in the scoring column.
“Okay lang sa akin kahit hindi ako makatira. Kahit zero out of zero ako sa field goals, basta manalo kami,” said the Centro Escolar University product.
“Hindi naman tayo sisikat kung tayo lang ‘yung umiiscore nang umiiscore, sisikat tayo kapag nag champion na tayo hindi ba?”
With an impressive victory over Iligan, Pagadian marched to the semifinals against third seed BYB Kapatagan.
Now, head coach Gherome Ejercito has a problem – a good one at that.
Who will he use, who will he sit against the Buffalos with all his players clicking?
“Talented lahat ng player ko. Hindi ko na nga alam kung sinong huhugutin ko lahat gumagawa eh,” said Ejercito.
“Ang dilemma ko ngayon sino ang iuupo ko? It’s a good problem kasi lahat nag-step up.”
