Cokaliong bags 2 titles in a day

Dreaded marksman Chester Cokaliong painted another outside shooting masterpiece to collect a pair of titles during last Sunday's shootout of the 2006 Winners' League basketball tournament at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.

After being dethroned by Walter Ong last year, Cokaliong scored sweet redemption of sort to regain his lofty status as the undisputed 3-point king. It was his 11th three-point shootout plum since he ventured into competitive basketball seven years ago.

Before that, Chester teamed up with his younger brother Christopher to win their first 2-ball crown ever as partners. In the 3-point shootout, Chester marched into the championship round with 12 points, six points behind elimination topnotcher Richard Mercado. Surprisingly, Ong missed the cut with only eight points in the qualifying phase.

Things dramatically changed in the finals as Cokaliong came out smoking to knock in 18 points to rule the event and relegate Mercado to a second place finish with 12 points. Norman Lopez was third with 10 points followed by Samsam Gullas with six.

"I'm very happy to regain my 3-point shootout title. I was fortunate that Walter Ong failed to proceed to the championship round. Winning two crowns is what I was aiming for and I made it," said an ecstatic Chester Cokaliong, this year' scoring champion.

Cokaliong topped the inaugural 3-point shooting contest of the three-year-old league, but was deprived by Ong of back-to-back titles last season.

Reclaiming his 3-point crown was truly a delightful icing on Chester's victory cake as the sports-minded shipping magnate earlier topped the 2-ball competition with his brother Christopher in convincing fashion. They topped the elimination with 42 points before lording it over in the finals with an imposing 41 points.

It was the seventh 2-ball diadem for Chester, but the first with his brother as partner. Overall, it was the fourth time that Chester bagged two titles in just one day in a shooting tiff. The rest he took away in the 2003 Inter-Shipping season and during the CECABA exhibition matches against the Punta Princesa Sports Association (PPSA) and the Sacred Heart Alumni Basketball Association (SHABA) last year.

A far second in the 2-ball tilt was tandem of Chester Go and Novel Fortich with 27 points. Karl Salvador and Brian Teson settled for third place honors with 16 points, just a matchstick ahead of the Edmund Gaisano-John Eduard Ngo duo.

On the other hand, Michael Hing of reigning champion Worldwide Steel shared part of the spotlight by dominating the free throw shooting contest after beating JV Shop n Shop's Dexter So and Cokaliong Shipping's Alex Yeo in the playoffs.

The three were tied after the final round with seven points. In the playoffs, Hing missed only one out of 10 attempts to take the crown. So had eight points to wind up second followed by Yeo with seven.

Meanwhile, the 2006 Winners' League season formally drops off its curtains with the traditional awarding ceremonies at the Hama Bar of City Sports Club this Friday starting at 6:30 pm.