Acster Marketing wins 1st UNBL title

December 8, 2022

THE MYTHICAL FIVE. (from left to right) Medo Tosh Sesay, Mark Yee, Renz Solomon, Aldwin Alday (MVP), and Landry Sanjo

Acster Marketing defeated RA-AK Transport 73-56 to capture the title of the 1st United Negros Basketball League (UNBL) Open Basketball Tournament last Sunday at the Tay Tung High School Po Hang Gym.

Medo Tosh Sesay paced Acster with 24 points and Richard Albo fired 17 points to lead Acster to the inaugural championship.

Acster started the game with 9 straight points before RA-AK Transport caught up at 22 – all in the 2nd quarter but a 10-0 response by Acster push them to a 37-28 lead at the break.

Sesay fired 14 points and teammate Aldwin Alday added 6 while RA-AK Emmanuel Ojoula and Jhan Nermal had 6 points apiece.

RA-AK cut the deficit anew at the start of the 3rd quarter with a 6-0 run courtesy of a Mark Yee triple to draw closer at 37-34.

After a timely timeout by Acster, Richard Albo engineered a 7-0 run who finished with 10 points in the quarter to keep RA-AK Transport at bay 55-48.

Acster Marketing detonated another 8-0 run anew at the start of the 4th as RA-AK misfired with their outside shots. RA-AK continue to be out of sync offensively as turnovers and passing errors hounded the team as the lead of Acster ballooned to 69-49 with under 4 minutes remaining. RA-AK waved the white flag as they slowly empty their bench with 3 ½ minutes left in the game.

Joel Lee Yu and Chibueze Ikeh added 7 points for Acster, France Tono shot 5 pts.

RA-AK Transport was spearheaded by Ojoula 12 points, Nermal delivered 10, Yee made 8 markers; Renz Solomon, Jan Egat and Patrick Dave Yulo had 5 points each.

Supreme ABF/ SIlverGraces took 3rd place with an emphatic victory against Tea Tas/Puff Boss 133-85.

Alday copped the MVP Award and the 10k Cash prize courtesy of RIGPOINT-PETROGAZZ CSAV Titans, Joining Alday in the Mythical 5 selection are Sesay, Yee, Solomon and Landy Sanjo of SilverGraces.

“Congratulations to all the participating teams and players of the 1st ever tournament of the UNBL, most especially to the Negros college players because the tournament was organized so that they can develop their skill by playing against professional basketball players from all over the country.” Said UNBL President Jun Ballesteros.

He added, “Although the tournament was undoubtedly a success the UNBL will strive to improve in our succeeding tournament. Furthermore, thank you to all the basketball fans who came out to support the UNBL and this tournament.”* (Cyrus M. Garde)