Trip Ko Phoenix Fuels Basketball Cup Season 1 ends on a high note

The champions with officials that included Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas regional director Regino "Boy" Cua (3rd from left, standing).

1st runner-up team with Phoenix Petroleum officials led by corporate affairs manager Ben Sur.

Liga Dabaw vice-chairman Atty.Carpio awards the medals to the Mythical Five.

PBA player Peter June Simon (right), who now earns a monthly six-figure income, with  tournament MVP Klyde Batilo.

Liga Dabaw vice-chair Mans Carpio (extreme right) and Davao City asst. administrator Erwin Alparaque, who is also president of the City Hall Employees Sports Club (CHESC) join Phoenix officials.

The Davao City Recreation Center (formerly Almendras Gym) was packed with basketball fanatics as Phoenix Petroleum ended the first season of the Trip Mo Phoenix Fuels Basketball Cup last August 28.

Team Cyclomax Titan emerged as champion with only a shot ahead against this season’s 1^st runner-up Accelerate Supreme. The score was 78-76. Teams Accelerate Vega and Zoelo Extreme landed on the third and fourth place.

Klyde Batilo of Cyclomax Titan was proclaimed as this season’s Most Valuable Player as his teammate Eric Patrick Dulay II, along with Accelerate Supreme’s Vernon Miguel Boneon and Jeuchrist Binoya, Accelerate Vega’s Rhaffy Torno and Zoelo Extreme’s Ralph San Miguel, were named the basketball cup’s Mythical Five.

The young basketball players received an additional treat when PBA player Peter June Simon of B-Meg Llamados helped award the winners. “I hope someday many Davaeños will enter the PBA,” PJ said in his inspirational message. He started his basketball career at the University of Mindanao where he studied. Later, he joined the Metropolitan Basketball Association and played under the Davao Eagles.

Phoenix Petroleum Philippines is set to bring a better basketball cup with the Trip Ko Phoenix Fuels Basketball Cup Season 2. This time it will be played by 13 -15 year old players later this year.

The Trip Ko Phoenix Fuels Basketball Cup opened on July 2 with six teams.  Each team was composed of 15 players of age 16 and under, and mostly from public schools. It was organized in partnership with the city government of Davao and is sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) Region 11.

The basketball cup is part of Phoenix’s advocacy to promote sports. Phoenix Petroleum is a partner of the Philippine Basketball Association. The company also holds the Phoenix Run Series, which has been to Davao City, Compostela Valley, and Tagum City. Phoenix will also bring seven elite runners from Davao City to the Summit CamSur International Marathon on September 25, 2011 at the CamSur Watersports Complex (CWC).(pr)

Davao's Simon, Tenorio of Alaska are Players of the Week

THRESHING out the great players from mere mortals is easy. All one needs to do
is to spot those who step up big-time, especially when the chips are down.
That is exactly what Alaska’s Lewis Alfred “LA” LA Tenorio and B-MEG Derby Ace’s
Peter June “PJ” Simon just recently did to stoke their respective team’s drive
in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup and earn for themselves the  Accel-PBA Press
Corps’ Co-Players of the Week honors for the period March 21 to 27.
It was the second such award for Tenorio in the conference, having been already
cited for the period Feb. 21- 28, while the honor was Simon‘s second for the
season, coming after his similarly exceptional performance in the Nov. 8 to 14
span of the Philippine Cup, when he posted a two-game average of 29.0 points.
 This time, Simon normed 23.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in leading injury-plagued
Derby Ace past previously unbeaten Smart-Gilas and San Miguel Beer in a pair of
overtime games that stoked their drive to the playoffs.
What makes those numbers special is the fact they came at a time when the
Llamados were sorely missing the services of reigning MVP James Yap (calf
strain), Rico Maierhofer (ACL), Don Allado (foot), Jonas Villanueva (ankle),
Rafi Reavis (hand) and Jondan Salvador (shoulder).
“PJ has been stepping up in the absence of James and he has become our
go-to-guy,” noted Derby Ace coach Jorge Gallent after Simon’s heroics enabled
the team to improve its win-loss record to 4-4.
“I hope he continues to inspire the whole team.”
As stimulating was Tenorio while leading Alaska to a come-from-behind 104-101
win, also in OT, over Meralco last Friday.
With import LD Williams ejected barely four minutes into the game, Tenorio
exploded for a new career-high 33 points in leading the gritty bunch of local
Aces who rose to the occasion.

The heady playmaker made half of his 20 shots, including four triples, and added
eight rebounds, six assists, five steals and two blocked shots in 39 minutes in
a sterling all-around performance rarely seen on local shores.
“LA did everything to bring us back. It’s incredible to watch LA do that kind of
stuff,” said Alaska coach Tim Cone, taking special note of Tenorio’s two triples
highlighting an 11-0 burst in the last three minutes of regulation that brought
the Aces back.
As is his wont, Tenorio refused to hog all the credit.
“After na ma-thrown out ang import namin we as a team decided to play harder and
just continue playing. The most important thing was everyone stepped up, not
only me but everyone in the team,” he stated.
“Siguro I was lucky lang talaga that time na the ball was in my hand during the
crucial part of the game. Basta I played hard lang talaga that game and grabbed
the opportunity to step up.”
The win jacked the Aces’ record to 5-2, tantalizingly close to a top two spot
and an automatic semifinals berth, but surely safe enough to ensure passage into
the next round.PR

Poll starts for All-Star starters

DAVAO CITY'S PETER JUNE SIMON (PBA photo)



VOTING for this year’s PBA All-Star game is now ongoing as fan balloting will determine the starters for both the North and South teams.
Puerto Princesa, Palawan is this year’s host of the mid-season spectacle to be held April 23-25.
The league reverts back to the North versus South format after temporarily giving way to the Powerade-RP Team’s training and preparation for the FIBA-Asia Men’s Basketball Championship campaign last year when the Nationals played three exhibition games against the North and South squads, respectively.
The last time the two rivals played in Bacolod two years ago, the South won in overtime, 163-158, with Peter June Simon adjudged as the Most Valuable Player.
The two teams are 4-4 in their head-to-head encounter.
PBA fans can vote their favorite players through the polling places to be found at the different playing venues, while online voting through www.pba.ph starts on Monday, March 1.
With fan voting determining the starting line ups, the rest of the all-star selection will be filled up by the different coaches of the 10 ball clubs.