Cokaliong, M. Iway share spotlight in WL awarding

Chester Cokaliong of Cokaliong Shipping Lines and Miguel Iway of Sentinel Security shone the brightest among the top individual achievers who were feted in a simple awarding ceremonies of the 2005 Winner's League basketball tournament last Sunday at the Hamabar in City Sports Club of Cebu.

Cokaliong bagged five individual awards highlighted by this season's scoring championship. For the second straight year, the dreaded streak-shooter made it to the Mythical Five selection (shooting guard) aside from owning the league's best 3-point field goal percentage.

Cokaliong also picked up a pair of first runner-up trophies through the 3-point shootout and the 2-ball competition where he teamed up with his younger brother Christopher.

Cokaliong though lost anew in the MVP race, this time to Miguel Iway, who went on to collar three more accolades. Cokaliong lost last year's coveted regular season MVP honors to Walter Ong, incidentally the same player who edged him out in the 3-point shootout.

It was a heart-breaker of sort for Cokaliong, who engaged in a hotly-contested battle for the MVP award with Miguel Iway. In the end, Iway prevailed.

Curiously, Cokaliong carried his team to the championship round, while Miguel Iway's Sentinel squad unceremoniously crashed out of the tournament following an impressive 8-0 sweep in the double round robin elimination.

Iway, on the other hand, also formed part of the elite Mythical Five (small forward) aside from emerging as the "Rebounding King" and posting the league's best 2-point field goal percentage.

Sharing the spotlight with Cokaliong and Iway were PJ Iway, Emmanuel Iway, and Samsam Gullas of JV Shop n Shop, who was the runaway choice for the Finals MVP. Gullas also ruled the 2-ball contest together with Dexter So.

PJ Iway took home three commendations being a Mythical Five member, "Tapal King" and first runner-up in the free throw shooting competition dominated by Lokal's Jeremy Huang. Emmanuel had two, making it to the Mythical Five (pointguard) and dominating the assists department.

Overall, it's a satisfying season for Cokaliong as Cokaliong Shipping gallantly rose from a pitiful 0-3 start to set up a final showdown with eventual champion JV Shop n Shop.

"We weren't supposed to be in the final after a cellar-dwelling 1-3 win-loss record at the end of the first round of elimination. Nobody thought my team and JV Shop would make it to the championship because everybody predicted it would be the top-seed Sentinel and Lokal which will clash in the finals. It turned out otherwise," said Cokaliong.

Cokaliong's teammate Gilbert Gajudo completed the Mythical Five cast, while Jed Huang of Sentinel also had his share of the limelight for topping the steals department on top of claiming the "Rookie of the Year" citation.