Game 1: Tanguay City Sports Ambassadors
Game 2: Dauin 58 Sports Ambassadors64
Today was our last day of games around Dumaguete and the Saturday morning brought the crowds out in force. In the marketplace, on the streets and at the covered court we were set to play the Tanguay City team on.
Being an enclosed structure, we thought nothing of the heavy rain that began as we were travelling to the match. The loud noise from the crowd also deafened the pitter-patter overhead. However, by the time we had completed warmups, the national anthem (sung by Stevie ‘Wonder’ Cressiein G-flat) and the starting lineups, the small holes in the roof had let in some unstoppable drops at one end of the court.
Determined to continue as far as possible, two men with mops stayed at one end and cleared the water when possible. Steve Cressie continued on from his national anthem heroics with a smart start, hitting four three-pointers in the first quarter as the Sports Ambassadors kept pace with the excited hosts. By half-time, with the score 25-28, the game had become unplayable at one end.
Steve Cressie, the man of the moment, aptly gave his testimony to the crowd. The young Filipino boys looking for tips on how to shoot like Steve instead heard of his life’s search for something lasting after basketball games came to an end.
Instead of playing a second half, a three-on-three competition was held with Mike Valenti dominating for the victorious Sports Ambassadors.
The highlight of the morning, however, was yet to come. A three-point-shootout between the two teams was organised with sudden-death knockout. Amazingly, the winner was Perth’s Conan Prince, who had entered as a rank outsider who could barely make the distance in practise. His muscle-man celebrations more than wowed the crowd, who screamed for his autograph and some of his protein shake mix to emulate his Adonis-like frame!
A Saturday morning which could have been rained out turned out to be a great celebration of basketball and a triumph for the unexpected.
The final game in the Dumaguete district was held at 6pm on the Saturday night in the basketball-savvy district of Dauin.
The church group who had organised the game had set the facilities up perfectly for the gathering crowd. A balmy weekend night saw entire families arrive by motorbike and scooter-trike to the sounds of a local DJ and outdoor court perfect for night basketball.
The Dauin team were eager to control the game with some ex-professionals on their team and a reputation for winning matches on their home court.
Some early shooting from Rufo Pong kept the Aussies in the game and then Andrew ‘The Clutch’ Stock took over the game. 25 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds only displays part of the control ‘Stocky’ exerted over the match. After sharing his testimony at half-time of the sacrifices that must be made for a Christian life and the subsequent rewards promised in the Bible, Mr Clutch continued his great work in the third and fourth quarters as he combined with Danny ‘The Carpenter (he-can-fix-anything-on-the-court)’ Cook to bring the game to 56-apiece with a minute to play.
The final minute saw free throws from both sides before Stocky stepped up to shoot a long three-pointer that Paul Beacham would be proud of. The win completed a clean sweep of the Dumaguete region for the Aussies as they take off early tomorrow morning for the mountainous region in central Negros to begin the feeding program.
A perfect Saturday for basketball and ministry.
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1 comment:
Nice going guys! Good to hear all is well :)
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