Finally, Binmaley Five are champs

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

EVERYTIME a province-wide basketball tournament is held, Binmaley is perennially one of the earliest to register. And, before the tourney starts, pundits say it is always the team to reckon with. Unfortunately, the championship has been elusive to them for countless years. But not last April 23.

Finally, they got what they had been fighting for. They bagged the First Governor’s Cup Inter-Town Basketball Tournament title albeit the hard way, thumping the pre-tourney favorite Manaoag team twice in the best-of-three series to the delight of the boisterous partisan crowd including the town’s two executives hizzoner Sammy Rosario and veem Edgar Maminta. Yes, the Binmaleyans came, overflowing at the fully air-conditioned hard-court of the Narciso Ramos and Civic Center, to cheer for their gallant five and to jeer at the enemy.

Binmaley lost the first match, 93-97, on April 8. The victory gave Manaoag the self-confidence and momentum, making local sports analysts believe the championship series would not reach the third and final game, and even if it did, Manaoag would clinch it.  They were wrong.

The second match on April 22 began to tell a different story.  The ‘never give up’ Binmaley squad, mentored by Jeffrey delos Angeles, won convincingly, 82-69, with four of its players spearheaded by Roxar Melendez and Christian Cruz scoring in double digits, both with 21 points apiece.  Roxar’s brother Mark turned in 20 while point-guard Lester Soriano did 10. Manaoag only had three scorers led by Aldrin Serafica with 18, Manny Santos with 15 and Jomar Ordoña with 12. The low 69 points scored by Manaoag proved the analysts wrong.

Inspired by their victory in the second game, cheered on by the partisan throng chanting for them, the Binmaley five showed their mastery of the game. With Cruz leading the charge with his 24, Roxar with 21 and Soriano with 16, they never gave their foes a chance to grab any of the first three quarters, 24-17, 38-32, 54-49 and finally, 76-67.  The efforts of Manaoag’s Serafica who duplicated his second game score with 18, Santos with 16 and Ordoña with 10, were not enough.

“It was a convincing win and we were really prepared for this with the full support of Mayor Rosario”, said coach delos Angeles. “We capitalized on their weaknesses and the team’s effort paid off.  The chanting crowd also played a major role in our victory,” he added.

“This is our first time to win this kind of tournament, and our players truly have a Pusong Binmaley, and we will prepare an even much better team for the second conference in November,” said Mayor Rosario.

“My big thanks to Gov. Pogi Espino for this well organized basketball league,” Rosario continued.

The mayor was right. I covered the tournament’s skirmishes for two months and I never saw nor heard the players and their coaches complain about anything because everything was in order. To ensure the best officiating, the semis and the finals were refereed by SBP’s international arbiters. It was, indeed, a very colorful and successful event. Thanks to the provincial sports and management council headed by the reliable sports director Modesto Operania and his assistant Marlon Domalanta and their boys and the league’s commissioner Dr. Edilberto Abalos. And of course, credit should go to the dynamic, energetic leadership of sports-minded father of the province Gov. Amado “Pogi” Espino, lll. See you at NRSCC for the awarding ceremony and fellowship night on April 29.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And Jesus Christ said “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.” REVELATION 22: 11

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