CEBU, Philippines – The Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc. through its hardworking commissioner Felix "Boy" O. Tiukinhoy, Jr. released yesterday the official list of high school players that will collide in the highly-anticipated 2012 CESAFI All-Star Games this Sunday at the Cebu Coliseum.
Five cagers each from defending champion University of the Visayas (UV) Baby Lancers and Cebu Institute of Technology-University Wildkittens will form the core of the South squad under the tutelage of Fernando Fuentes of CIT-U.
Reigning juniors MVP Andres Paul Desiderio leads the pack from UV along with Prince Cañete, John de la Cerna, Datu Yusuf Samal and Ralph Dinolan, while CIT-U has Mark Kong, Kevin Eboña, Kresnner Jabines, Charles Singson, and Marl Laguna.
They will see action alongside Miguel Gastador and Andrey Armenion from the University of Cebu (UC) Junior Webmasters and John Paul Isok, Edwin Villarta and Marlon Gahi from the University of Southern Philippines Foundatoin (USPF) Baby Panthers.
The North selection, on the other hand, will be bannered by five top guns from the University of San Carlos (USC) Baby Warriors and Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) Magis Eagles.
Dolan Adlawan, Lloren Piad, Clint Suelto, Juyde Luke Bulan and Juneo Antigua are the brightest bets of the USC Baby Warriors, while Gabrille Araw-araw, Rendell Senining, Henry Ochea, Jair Igna and Miguel Competente will proudly wear the blue and white jersey of the Magis Eagles.
Completing the North side of coach Rolando Remedio of USC are John Julius David Zosa, Michael Balangkig, and Jesus Manuel Grivaldo from the Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Dragons, John Matias from the Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) Greywolves and Sean Espiritu from the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Baby Jaguars.
The highlight of the annual spectacle is the historic showdown between the CESAFI stars and the Petron Blaze Boosters of the PBA.
Petron will be led by 6-foot-9 behemoth June Mar Fajardo, unarguably one of the brightest players the CESAFI has ever produced.
Fajardo, who steered the UC Webmasters to back-to-back CESAFI championships during his five-year stint in the league, etched his name his stone just two weeks ago for becoming the first Cebuano player to emerge as the No.1 overall pick in the PBA Draft.
Fajardo and his gang will go up against the best and brightest hardcourt warriors the CESAFI could offer this season.
They are Jhon Michael Abad, Eman Calo, Phil Mercader, 6-foot-7 Nigerian recruit Steve Cedrick Akomo, Hernal Escosio, Jerome Silva and Rene Saycon from UV, Abulaiz Suliman and Miguel Tabaloc from USJ-R, Monbert Arong and 6-foot-5 Cameroonian banger Benoit Ubala from the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras, Quinton Brian Heruela of USC, June Michael Cantonao of USC, Allan Dimco of CIT-U, and Joseph Sedurifa of USPF.
The exciting side events such as the Slam Dunk contest and the 3-point shootout will be done in between the All-Star Games. – THE FREEMAN