Rookie shines in Freego-MMTLBA

MANILA, Philippines - He’s just a rookie, but Jessie Pedrosa of Hope Christian High School has already carved a name for himself in the 40th Freego-Metro Manila Tiong Lian Basketball Association (MMTLBA) tournament.

The 6-1 winger came through with a double-double performance in the team’s last two games to claim his first Freego Reflex Denim Player-of-the-Week honors in the tournament presented by Fresh Gear Revolution Denim.

Pedrosa, who hails from Gen. Santos City, had 14 points and 15 rebounds in their 65-58 win over multi-titled Chiang Kai Shek College last Friday at the Chiang Kai Shek College gym.

His undergoal stab with a little over two minutes left proved to be the push Hope Christian needed to finally take the fight out of the Blue Dragons.

“He knows when to step up, he has improved a lot since joining the team,” said Hope’s Bernard Yang.

The following day, he produced his best performance so far by exploding for 26 points and grabbing 18 boards to power Hope to a 76-66 win over St. Stephen’s. High School.

His impressive showing the past three games enabled Hope Christian to finish third at the end of the elims with a 4-2 record. That gave them a twice-to-beat bonus in the quarterfinals against either Uno High School or Grace Christian High School.

Pedrosa beat teammate Janrey Garrido, St. Jude’s Joel Chang, Xavier’s Jeron Teng and Jose Manuel for the weekly honors.