St. Victor's Alumni 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament

From light sprinkles to sun burns, the weather was not the only thing that was heating up in San Jose this last Saturday (08/14/10). St. Victor's held its Alumni 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, headed by the Class of 2000, the Alumni Board, Sammy Fernandez, parents and volunteers. There were old and new faces to this year's tournament as the Alumni came together to help raise funds for this year's Eighth Grade class field trip to Washington D.C.

As one walked onto the black top of their old stomping grounds, they could feel their jitters leave their body with one thing on their mind; win. As last year's champs, the '01 Elite, walked onto the courts everyone knew they meant business. The '01 Elite were on the their pursuit for their second title. With the departure of Lionel Milan, the '01 Elite added Don Collado, Alvin Lomotan and Mark Macaranas to their squad. One team that participated this year and was great to see come out was team Carlocos, class of 1993. The team was headed by Carl Macaranas, who currently has 2 kids attending St. Victors.

This years tournament was going on a very fast pace. Some teams would have to play game after game without a break because teams wanted to get as many games in before lunch. The faster a team finished, the more rest they had. From 9am-12:30pm, all the teams have already played a total of 6 games.

New teams were representing their class: Team Boom (class of 1999), Team High 5 (class of 2003) and Team Dinosaur (class of 2010) just to name a few. Team Dinosaur was able to hold their ground against a lot of the older alums. Headed by the sharp shooting of R.J. Dela Cruz, Team Dinosaur was able to sneak into the playoffs; but only to come short to the play of GMX Roboto. GMX Roboto was the fastest team in the tournament, with players Kyle Dizon, Bobby Erzen Jason Gasmin and Jeremy Mendoza. But speed can only get you so far.

Towards the end of the tournament, everyone wanted to see the rematch between the '01 Elite and Team Boom in the championship. Team Boom came up short before lunch against the reigning champs and wanted their revenge. This team consisted of Chris Liclican, Jerold Caparas, Conan Tzou and Paul Nguyen. The teams are very familiar with each other because they have played one another in an Asian League based in San Jose; Dream League.

As the weather picked up, so did the game. The '01 Elite took charge of the game right away with the pick and roll plays between Valderrama and Lomotan. But points did not come easy as Team Boom's Nguyen played aggressive defense as the championship game went on. Both teams were getting worn out, and both played their reserves to help rest the starters. But at the end of the day, the '01 Elite came in and did what they had to do; defended their title.

Congrats to everyone that showed up and we hope to see you all again next year. Please help us spread the word of the tournament and we hope for this to grow bigger and bigger every year. Thanks