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Flashy guard Eliud Poligrates finally found the perfect avenue to show off his on-court antics as he helped turn an otherwise pedestrian Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) All-Star Festivities into a slam-bang affair and led the West team to a thrilling 83-82 win over the hard-charging East squad in the seniors division All-Star game last Sunday at the Cebu Coliseum.
Poligrates, the left-handed dynamo of the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras from Camotes Island, showed off his entire repertoire as he gave the fans something to cheer about in the wake of the disastrous Slam-Dunk Competition, which saw four participants submit no-shows, much to the dismay of the paying public.
Poligrates managed just 11 points but scored more than that in the hearts of the fans as he dribbled in and around his defenders, rolled on the floor while dribbling the ball and at one point, slid the ball into his jersey and slapped it around his torso before dribbling up court for yet another high-flying lay-up.
All these he did in the second period, which helped the West squad take a 54-37 lead at halftime.
The East team, though, which was made up of stalwarts from the University of the Visayas (UV), the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF), dared to come back as they staged a 17-6 run at the close of the the third period to close the gap to two, 65-67. Leading that barrage were UV aces Greg Slaughter, Ritchum Dennison and Phil Mercader.
The West team retaliated with a 9-0 run after the game was tied at 67-all, behind the efforts of SWU's Ardd Django, University of San Carlos' Joven Cortes and the University of Cebu's behemoth June Mar Fajardo, to lead 76-67.
But the East were not done as they refused to go down quietly and crept to within one, 83-82, after a lay-up by Dennison with 32 ticks left on the clock.
They had a chance to win the game outright after they gained possession of the ball with 4.4 seconds remaining in the game but Slaughter, UV's 7-foot giant and last year's All-Star MVP, had the ball slapped out of his hands as time expired.
Fajardo and his UC teammate Moncrief Rogado each had 16 points to lead the West while Dennison paced the East with 17 markers. Slaughter and Mercader also had 12 points apiece for the East team.
Meanwhile, the fun and games end tonight when the SWU Cobras and the USC Warriors collide in a winner-take-all match for the last semifinals ticket. Both teams though, will be heading into tonight's encounter with less firepower after several players got suspensions for violating league rules regarding playing in other tournaments while the tournament is still ongoing.
USC will be without reserve guard Paul Joven while SWU will be without starting center Rene Pacquiao and Jeff Pria. USC's quarterfinal win last October 4 was also forfeited in favor of the Cobras, thus the deciding game today.
According to sources, there are also reports that Poligrates might be suspended for the remainder of the season for incurring the same infractions as the aforementioned players. Allegedly, Poligrates played in a tournament in Brgy. Calunasan last Oct. 5.
