Basila leads resto awardees

Do-it-all swingman Banjo Basila of Country House bagged the MVP of the 2004 Inter-Restaurant Basketball League and joined four other players in the mythical team during awards ceremonies held Thursday evening at the Garapan Central Park.

Basila shared the forward spot with Gyles Ruluked of this year’s champion team Capricciosa. Ruluked’s teammates Reynaldo “Badong” Camacho and Ed Arriola bagged the center and guard positions, while Basila’s main feeder, Edward Vega, occupied the other guard slot.

The restaurant league award ceremony kicked off a little over 11pm with IRBL president Koich Tabei of host Country House welcoming participating teams and their players to the event.

He went on to congratulate Capricciosa for winning the pennant title and the overall championship. Tabei also thanked major sponsor Triple J Five Star Wholesale for supporting the league and also tipped his hat to all the teams for a well-played 2004 season.

Aside from Capricciosa and Country House, this year’s restaurant league was also made up of Jollibee (third place), Angel Wings (fourth place), El Segundo, Keeraku, and LSG Sky Chef.

Tabei also extended his appreciation to all the table officials and referees namely Andrew Mesina, Archie Rosario, Ronald Epan, Arnold Mesa and Ricky Itaas. The amiable Country House manager also gave kudos to the individual awardees, which incidentally was led by his player Basila.

Basila led almost all statistical categories in the 2004 season of the restaurant league. The 5’11” Moby Dick Restaurant employee led the league in scoring with an average of 27.89 points per game. He also wound up best in rebounds after averaging 11.2 caroms a game. Basila also led the league in assists and steals coming up with 4.0 dole outs and 3.67 steals a game.

Ruluked, for his part, was eighth in scoring (12.88), third in rebounds (10.38), second in assists (3.63), and second in steals (3.5).

Camacho emerged as the year’s best shot blocker as he rejected a total of eight shots in eight games for a 1.0 block per game average. The 5’11” frontliner also averaged 10.13 points, 4.38 rebounds, and 1.25 assists for the season.

For his part, Arriola was tops in free throw shooting making 15 of 20 attempts from the 15-foot line. The cat-quick guard also went on to norm a second-best 18.75 points per game and also dished out 1.88 assists and the same number of steals a game.

Aside from firing a season-best 10 triples, Vega also contributed in other departments for eventual runner-up Country House (16.22 points, 1.44 assists, 3.56 rebounds, and 2.22 steals per game).

A fourth Capricciosa player also found his way onto the stage when deadeye sharpshooter Randy Arconado was awarded the trophy for winning the 3-point shootout the league held in almost all halftimes of its games this past season.

Eventually all Capricciosa players were called onto the stage to receive their championship medals. Aside from Ruluked, Arriola, Camacho, and Arconado other members of the team are Antonio Roman, Andy Viola, Jerryfel Mangahis, Jam Navarro, Jordan Sundian, Brando Balabas, Burt Suda, Nissan Armas, Robert Ramirez, and Jojo Molar.

Travis Hicks also went home with the Best Coach award after stirring Capricciosa to both pennant and overall championships. Team manager Jun Hirano also got an ovation for keeping the team motivated the entire season.

Hicks was handed the microphone for the closing remarks and he said Capricciosa is looking forward to host next year’s restaurant league. He also thanked Country House for hosting this year’s competition.