THE confidence of sophomore hotshot Jericho Cruz of Rain or Shine continues to grow.
Cruz led his team to the Shooting Stars’ crown after nailing the half-court shot on his first attempt in the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association All-Star Weekend Sunday.
The team of Cruz (PBA), Regina Dela Merced (Women’s), Stacey Tibayan (Batang PBA) and William Baustista (Cignal) bagged the crown with a best time of 1:12.
They were able to race to the half-court shot after making their initial five shots on their first attempt.
With time on their side, they calmly approached the half-court shot with Cruz nailing it right away in his first try.
Terrence Romeo’s team was likewise impressive with a time of 1:22, 10 seconds shy of Cruz’s team, but fell a bit short.
Eventually, Romeo, who bagged his second straight Three-Point Shootout crown last Friday, still made the half-court shot on his second attempt.
Unlike Cruz and Romeo’s team, Thompson and his troops were unable to finish as they failed to knock down the half-court shot.
In the first-ever PBA Women’s 5×5 exhibition game, the Light Team took control to eke out a dominant 43-35 victory over the Dark Team.
Both teams were composed of players from the PBA Women’s 3×3 Tournament.
As of this report, the All-Star Game, the main event of the weekend, between the North and South All-Stars is taking place with both squads and their stars looking to outshine each other.
Both All-Star teams, along with their respective coaches Yeng Guiao (North) and Leo Austria (South) also figured in a pre-game dance showdown to entertain the crowd.