Cokaliong makes another historic feat

According to American author and motivational speaker Lou Holtz, “Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”

As an athlete, that edifies the character of Chester C. Cokaliong, a prolific shooter non pareil who always rises above the challenge and strives to be not just good enough but the very best that he can in everything he does.

Fact is, he already has so many records etched in stone and innumerable collections in his trophy case at his personal museum at home, yet he never extinguish the flaming desire within him to carve more historic feats.

For the first time in his bejeweled career, Cokaliong swept all the titles at stake including the game MVP honors anchored on his sparkling 54-point show capped by the game-winning triple that motored Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Class ’78 to a 96-95 cliffhanger over the Salazar Institute of Technology Basketball Association (SITBA) at the City Sports Club-Cebu gym.

It was just a single day’s work, but an achievement for eternity for Cokaliong, who recently received a special citation from the Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) for his stirring exploits.

Prior to his offensive outburst, Cokaliong showed to his rivals who’s the real deal in shooting tilts by ruling the 3-point shootout, 2-ball contest and free throw shooting competition - a first in his career.

Cokaliong’s previous best accomplishment was harvesting the 3-point king and 2-ball titles and the All-Star MVP award during the CECABA-SHABA exhibition match on July 17, 2005.

Against SITBA, Cokaliong was not in his top form, scoring only 10 points in the championship round but it was enough for him to pocket his 13th 3-point crown. His teammate Joselito Lee almost pulled a huge upset by hitting nine points to settle for the first runner-up honors.

Before that, Cokaliong teamed up with Wilty Yap to clinch their second 2-ball diadem - Cokaliong’s eighth overall- with 51 points in the finals, edging out SITBA’s Jerry Lauron and Jay-R Gonzaga who posted 40 points.

In the free throw shooting event, Cokaliong lorded it over in the elimination and championship round by missing only one out of 10 attempts for the landmark victory. SITBA’s Ariel Castaño, who was 6-4 in the qualifying phase, hit eight points in the finals to settle for second place.

During the game, Cokaliong showed he is an indefatigable fighting machine by knocking in 15 3-pointers, including back-to-back hits underneath the final one-minute mark of the contest that bailed CEC ’78 out of danger.

After SITBA’s Ruel Cabasan converted a triple to put SITBA in front, 92-90, with 32 seconds left in the game, Cokaliong responded by bombarding two successive treys to give CEC ’78 a 96-92 breather with only two seconds remaining. Cabasan then drilled a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to settle the final tally.

Joven Cimafranca backed up Cokaliong with 25 points for CEC ’78, which won its second goodwill match as a team for the first time since it drubbed the Newsmen Basketball Association of Cebu (NBAC) Print All-Stars, 74-69, on May 4, 2003 at the Cebu Coliseum.

Leslie Napoles paced SITBA with 27 points followed by Andring Flores with 15. Castaño and Loloy Dejarme each had 10 markers in a losing effort.

The scores

CEC ’78 (96) - Cokaliong 54, Cimafranca 25, Yap 8, Uy 4, Yu 3, Lee 2

SITBA (95) - Napoles 27, Flores 15, Dejarme 10, Castaño 10, Cabasan 8, Gonzaga 6, Lauron 5, Valenzuela 4, Valenzuela 4, Julliano 2, Batayola 2, Brown 2