JOJO Lastimosa’s first season as head coach in a commercial league has turned out to be a success.
The Lastimosa-mentored NLEX-SCTEX Road Warriors capped their season with a bang by ruling the inaugural staging of the Marikina City Basketball League with a 93-84 triumph over surprise finalist R. Lapid’s/Tito Rex in the championship match at the overflowing Marikina Sports Center.
In front of a full-house crowd, the Road Warriors were able to show poise under pressure and repulsed the repeated charge of the R. Lapid’s/Tito Rex bannered by three foreign players.
Led by ex-pro Byron Villarias, the Road Warriors were able to unload nine unanswered points in a one-minute span to put away their rivals.
Plucked from the bench by Lastimosa due to foul troubles, the cousin of PBA second overall rookie pick Kiefer Ravena hit a triple right away and along with Ola Adeogun’s short stab and baskets by Alfred Batino and JP Belencion, the team coasted to an 85-73 lead with still 4:12 left in the game.
R. Lapid’s/Tito Rex, which paraded slam dunk champion Soulmane Chabi Yo, Alex Jakhite and Francis Batouzulele as imports, couldn’t get any closer from there as the Road Warriors reached their destination to the promised land.
MCBL commissioner Cris Bautista awarded the trophies to the two teams and vowed to come up with a bigger staging of the second season of the tournament.
“Target namin by February, sana ma-approve ito ng City Mayor, ‘yung magkaroon ng women’s tournament. Maipakita naman ng kababaihan ‘yung talent nila,” Baustista said. “Medyo naiiwan tayo. Magkakaroon tayo ng two divisions dito – isang open and isang 19-under.”
Overwhelmed by the turnout of the crowd, Marikina City Mayor Marcelino Teodoro wants to come up with a more comprehensive sports program.
“The pool of talents that we have here is proof enough. Madami tayong naglalaro sa varsity dito,” said Teodoro. “More importantly, what we intend to do is to come up with basketball clinics in the community, hindi lang yung may access sa gymnasium like what we have here, but we are developing basketball gymnasiums and multi-purpose sports centers in different communities. Dahil alam naman natin yung tinuturo ng basketball sa atin.”
The Marikina Sports Center, which is already more than 50 years old, is a multi-sports center, which has a track oval, a swimming pool, tennis court, boxing gym, and dance sports among others. It’s not surprising because the venue served as host to the NCR Palaro.