Haven for scouts

The 30th Metro Manila Tiong Lian Basketball Association season got underway at the UNO High School gym in Sta. Cruz last Saturday and from the four teams that played in the opening junior division twinbill, you could pick several hot prospects for the collegiate leagues.

Tiong Lian is a scout’s haven. The players come in all sizes, shapes and forms. If you’re a scout, you’ll salivate as you watch the cagers play like there’s no tomorrow. They’re young kids–all teenagers–so their energy level is sky-high. They run the floor like they don’t get tired. The games are well-played and the teams are well-coached. Joe Lipa is the league commissioner.

There are long-range bombers, slick penetrators, big men who dominate the interior, rugged defenders, heady point guards, versatile wingmen, burly power forwards–you name it, Tiong Lian’s got it.

Jojo Villa of Air 21 calls the shots for two-time defending champion St. Stephen’s High School. Former University of the Philippines player and Philippine Basketball League assistant coach Patrick Aquino is on the Xavier School bench. Ex-pro Sunny Co coaches Chiang Kai Shek with Boy de Vera as consultant. National coach Chot Reyes’ younger brother and former Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) guard Billy pilots Grace Christian High School.

The other coaches are Hope Christian’s Bernard Yang, St. Jude’s Goldwyn Monteverde and UNO High’s Stephen Ong.

In the inaugural doubleheader, UNO High crushed Grace Christian, 71-57, and Xavier blasted Chiang Kai Shek, 97-82.

Before the games, 10 outstanding Tiong Lian alumni were honored. Philippine Cultural High School’s Atoy Co and Benny Cheng, Chiang Kai Shek’s Lim Eng Beng and Sunny Co, Grace Christian’s Alfrancis Chua, Kenneth Yap and Alex Tan, UNO High’s Gilbert Lao and Paul Du and Hope Christian’s Reynald So were cited for advancing to the big leagues.

Only Tan and So failed to attend.

Manny Pacquiao’s co-host (in his TV show Sports Idol) Champagne Morales introduced the honorees during the opening ceremonies of the tournament dubbed the Hitachi Cup.

Atoy Co received the most applause from the crowd. Co, 54, still looks dashingly handsome and cuts quite a figure on the court. He played 14 years in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Cheng, 36, saw action for Purefoods, Ginebra, Sta. Lucia Realty and Shell in a nine-year PBA career. Beng, 54, played in 11 PBA seasons until 1986. Sunny Co, 55, played three years in the pros while Chua, who was once an import in the Taiwan league, used to coach Tanduay and is now on the Sta. Lucia bench. Yap, 48, played two years for San Miguel Beer and Tan, 51, played for four teams in five seasons. Lao is still active in the PBA. Du and So are MBA veterans.

By the way, Sunny Co’s son Sean now plays for the Mapua seniors.

Among the standouts in last Saturday’s games were UNO High’s sweet-shooting Kevin Lee, Grace Christian’s So brothers–guards Angelito and Christian–and skipper Bryan Calantoc, Xavier’s forward Woody Co, guard Charles Tiu (former Ateneo player Chris’ brother), spitfirish backcourt defender Wesley Contreras and guard Julio Datu and Chiang Kai Shek’s center Justin Chua and power forward Alex Wong.

Lee, 16, buried three triples en route to a 26-point explosion and was all over the floor until he suffered cramps in the third period. The So brothers combined for 31 points while Calantoc, a Ranidel de Ocampo-type, contributed 10, including a trey.

Co, 17, is a 6-3 hotshot who can do it all–score, rebound, defend, block, pass, steal and whatever else. The word is he’ll likely wind up playing for the University of the Philippines varsity next year. He hit 26 points last Saturday and could’ve easily netted 30 with more playing time. Tiu shot 16 and Contreras, 13. Datu added nine.

A diamond-in-the-rough is Chua, a 6-6 recruit from Bacolod. The sophomore prepster is only 16. Against Xavier, he was unstoppable at the low block and showed a feathery touch from the stripe for a big man. Chua shot 24 points. What’s more, he’s still growing. Chua isn’t gangling. His body is filled out and he looks like a real prospect. His teammate Wong is 6-4 and 17. He tallied 11 points.

Basketball chronicler Henry Liao, a Xavier alumnus, says through the years, Tiong Lian has produced several crack collegiate stars (aside from those honored last Saturday) and he mentioned David Wong, Joseph Yeo and Tyrone Tang among them.

According to Henry, if Yeo is picked in the PBA draft next year, he’ll be the first Xavier player to be chosen. That is, if the PBA affirms his eligibility to apply and forgives the La Salle "ninja" for bloodying Enrico Villanueva’s nose with a clothesline during a benefit game last month.