Pilipino Star Ngayon sweeps media tournament

Ang Pilipino Star Ngayon completed an amazing 12-game sweep of the first Media Sports Club basketball tournament by beating Abante Tonite in an aborted championship game in the third quarter before a sizeable crowd at the Knights of Columbus gym in Intramuros, Manila Tuesday.

The STAR cagers, up by 22 points at 66-44, won by forfeiture when the Abante Tonite dribblers decided to abandon the game with 1:45 left in the third quarter of a rugged physical contest.

The Starmen won their best-of-three title series via a sweep with veteran forward Non Alquitran named Most Valuable Player.

"Hindi na nakayanan sa laro kaya umatras na lang ang Abante (Tonite)," said PSN coach Nestor Pantig.

Cheered on by a huge crowd headed by The STAR president Miguel Belmonte, PSN simply dominated Abante Tonite with Vir Roque and Mario Geocada leading the charge.

Roque and Geocada finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Alquitran struggled early on but still emerged MVP as he averaged 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a steal a game.

Alquitran led the Mythical First Team that included Roque, Geocada, Jim Punzalan of Inquirer and Abante Tonite’s Alfred Bayog.

Also with significant contributions to PSN were Joey Viduya, who had two triples for an eight-point output, and the troika of Bong Martinez, Edward Dangan and Noel Caballes, who had six markers apiece.

Like Alquitran, Arnel Ferrer and Jon de Guzman finished with four points each while Ramon Luban and Gil Ancheta chipped in a basket apiece.— Joey Villar