Cokaliong makes triumphant CECABA return

CEBU, Philippines — Chester Cokaliong made a triumphant comeback after missing the hardcourt action for five years in the league he established a quarter of a century ago.

The shipping magnate sank three 3-pointers of his 13 points to help his team, which is a mixture of players from batch ‘60, ‘78, ‘84 and 89, get past Batch ‘70s/86/87 via a close 51-47 decision at the start of the Cebu Eastern College Alumni Basketball Association’s 17th Dr. Chen Lieh Fu Memorial Cup on Sunday, February 25, at the Cebu Coliseum.

Cokaliong, who founded CECABA way back in 1999, returned to the playing court together with his fellow Easternian ballers for the first time since 2019.

He immediately made his presence felt, hitting the season’s first basket from beyond the arc with just 10 seconds gone by in the game before nailing seven markers in the second period to held steady the ship for his team with a hairline 24-23 edge at halftime.

 A see-saw battle ensued but Cokaliong’s go-ahead triple at the final 8:08 mark of the contest put the oldest competing batch under the guidance of coach Mark Tallo on top for good.

 Ryan Alexis Mendez dropped 13 of his topscoring 15 points in the second half, while Samuel Sia chipped in eight markers capped by a crucial shot that practically sealed their victory with a 50-46 lead in the last 27 seconds.

George Daytia was the lone double-digit scorer with 15 points, while Samuel Co and Warren Soon connived for 14 points in a losing cause.

In the other games, Batch ‘95 rolled past Batch 2003, 62-57, while Batch 2014 mauled Batch 2013, 68-53, in the lone lopsided duel of the day.

Dean Dy Teves showed the way for Batch ‘85 with 21 points. He drew big support from Donald Ting and Joseph James Yu with 15 and 11 points, respectively.

Shann Christopher Tan netted 19 points, while Glendel Calledo and Cresganter Paraguso combined for 25 points for Batch 2014, which used a sizzling rally in the middle quarters to bomb out Batch 2013 by 15 points.