Mark eager to pursue studies, cage career

Mark Benitez who has been in the center of the controversy involving ineligible players whom La Salle fielded the last two seasons, hopes to put the scandal behind him and move on by pursuing his studies and basketball career.

A reliable source close to the Benitez family said the hefty 6-foot-5 center plans to sort out his academic records at Jose Rizal University and hopefully play out his remaining two years of collegiate basketball in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) league.

The source said an option being mulled by members of the Benitez family is for the cager to complete his high school studies next year then look for a school to play his last two years in the collegiate league before possibly trying his luck in the pros.

"He wants to pursue his studies and also his basketball career. Dahil sa gulo sa La Salle, ang iniisip ng pamilya niya maghanap ng lalaruan sa NCAA," the source told The STAR.

Benitez, who has played three UAAP seasons with La Salle, is 22 and could complete a four-year course at 26.

He has to go back to fourth year in high school after it was discovered that he — wittingly or unwittingly — used faked Philippine Educational Placement Test Certificate (PEPTCR) to gain varsity eligibility in the UAAP.

Tim Gatchalian was another player found to have used spurious PEPTCR to be able to study and play for La Salle.

A probe team formed by La Salle named team statistician Raul Lacson as the one responsible for securing the cagers’ fake documents. Lacson, however, denied the allegations.

Benitez completed his first three years in high school at the National College of Business Administration before moving over to JRU.

He has been drafted by Hapee Toothpaste to play in the PBL but the recent controversy has prevented the burly player from suiting up for the squad.

The Angono, Rizal native played as the chief backup of Junjun Cabatu at La Salle in the recent UAAP season where the Archers finished second to the Far Eastern University Tams. — Nelson Beltran