West Team Wins Legends Tourney

The yearend tournament of PBA was one dedicated to the more senior members of the league. A tournament dedicated to the guys who are aged 35 years old and above. PBA was keen to have this to ensure their more mature players are fit.

Initially aiming to have 6 teams to participate they ended up with 9 entries. Medyo marami na ang mature players natin VP Bong Fiel was quoted saying. Three of the teams came from  sister league UFC; one from a regular group that plays on Thursdays; two teams composed of friends based in North Shore; one call themselves Tribu and another was based in West Auckland; while another team was based in East Auckland who plays every Thursday at Panmure.

The common theme was mag-babarkada ang mga teams na ito. So good chance to exercise and get friends together. Some players only play during this tournament as there are too many young ones, so medyo nahihirapan ang young "once" natin explained by PBA Treasurer Conrad Galang.  All the officers and consultants of PBA took part as well with our technical commissioner Tracy Zafra and assistant Leo Mandajos playing for third place. While consultant Rene Onte was seen helping coach another team.

Specific team standings can be found on our website. Team format saw 9 teams playing a single round robin with the top two teams vying for the finals. With the holidays fast approaching there were some weekends where teams played both Saturdays and Sundays; each team played one playing date two games. Talagang naging labanan ng stamina and sinong maka-sipot sa games. So maliban sa skills; it was a question of endurance and availability. For sure everyone had fun.

There were a few upsets; up to the very last day of the eliminations no one was certain of who would make it to the finals. There were at least 5 teams that could have made it. And if you thought it was all friendly games, think again. Alam niyo naman ang Pinoys, basta basketball iba na ang usapan. There were defaults; techinicals and even disqualifications.

In the end the battle for third was between the Tracy Zafra led Thurday group against the UFC Leo Mandajos Team. Tracy's team won a close game, Leo's team took the early lead and the Thursday group played catch up until they took the lead for good by half time. The finals was between the Arrows team led by Norman Latosa versus the West based team of Coach of the Year awardee John Senfelices. It was a pretty even match, but the steady shooting of Jude Evangelista and MVP awardee Romy Guevarra's aggressive play on both ends of the court proved to be the big difference.

Congratulations to all the participants! Already there are suggestions of another tier in the tournament, a 45 and over division. Watch this space!