NBAC, CECABA stars in friendly duel today

CEBU, Philippines - Vaunted marksman Chester Cokaliong plunges back into hoop action to lead the Cebu Eastern College Alumni Basketball Association (CECABA) All-Stars in a goodwill encounter against the Newsmen Basketball Association of Cebu (NBAC) selection at 8 am today at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.

Cokaliong of Class '78, a 14-time All-Star MVP awardee and 22-time 3-point shootout champion, will showcase his skills alongside his trusted comrades from different batches, with Zotico Tan from Class '67 as the oldest and Mark Eugene Bukiron from Class '99 as the youngest.

Under the tutelage of coach Jojo Romarate, the rest of the CECABA roster includes Chester's younger brother Christopher Cokaliong (1983), Joel Chan (1985), Joseph James Yu (1995), Mark Ryan Babor (1996), Shaun Christopher Wang (1996), Dean Dy Teves (1995), Samuel Sia (1984), and Richard Yu (1988).

The Easternians will go up against a strong force of hardcourt warriors from the print, radio and broadcast media led by multi-MVP awardee Jun Solon and the versatile Gabriel Bonjoc both of  GMA-7.

They will play alongside, Renante Quiñones, Godfrey Rillen, and Bruce Labastida also of GMA-7,  Cris Ligan, Rodel Quimod, and Zardo del Corro of CCTN-47,  Philip Cerojano, Efren Lonzon and Allan Defensor of  Sun.Star, Johnrey Bayking of Bombo Radyo, Calvin Cordova, Jonas Panerio, and Peter Romanillos of Cebu Daily News, and Manny Villaruel, Lemuel Maglinte, Edwin Melecio, and Rico Navarro of  The Freeman.

Under the stewardship of Cokaliong, the CECABA side holds a 4-0 record against the media hoopsters. They blasted the NBAC Broadcast All-Stars twice, the first was by 111-92 decision on May 4, 2003 followed by a close 89-82 decision four months later.

CECABA was also dominant in a two-game sweep of the NBAC Print All-Stars with a scoreline of 74-69 and 90-62 both in the same year.

This time, CECABA is expected to face a new challenge as this marks for the first time that they will take on an assortment of top players from the tri-media industry.

Overall, the CECABA stars are seeking for their 21st victory since they figured in competitive games against community and alumni-based ballclubs way back in 2002. In a total of 27 exhibition matches, the CECABA side only suffered six defeats and had one draw for a decdent 20-6-1 record. — EBV (FREEMAN)