CHOOKS-to-Go Pilipinas owner Ronald Mascariñas has sweetened the pot for the team that will emerge as champion in the Visayas finals of the Pilipinas VisMin Cup.
Mascariñas, whose firm is sponsoring the new pro league, has added a P500,000 prize for the winner of the deciding game in the best-of-3 finals battle between MJAS Zenith-Talisay Aquastars and KCS Computer Specialist-Mandaue.
“Despite the controversy the league faced in its early stages, Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup was able to redeem itself by enforcing stricter rules to combat illegal activities while raising the quality of the games,” Mascariñas said.
“The players, especially those from MJAS-Talisay and KCS-Mandaue, also played inspired basketball for one whole month inside a bubble just to entertain and inspire us. Their sacrifices should be rewarded that is why we added an extra spice for the finalists,” he added.
The match was played last night at the Alcantara Civic Center in Cebu, with the champion also gaining an outright slot in the VisMin Super Cup Finals in August.
The bridesmaid will not go home empty handed as it will take home P100,000.
The fate of the Mindanao leg of the VisMin Cup, however, remains hanging in the air, for now.
MJAS Zenity-Talisay City forged the winner-take-all match after getting back at KCS Computer Specialist-Mandaue 63-56 last Saturday.
Despite the appeal for reconsideration of Mascariñas, Games and Amusements Board chairman Baham Mitra said the league is still under the microscope.
In a blatant travesty of the sport that Filipinos treat as a religion, players muffed free throws and botched open lay-ups in the Siquijor and ARQ Builders-Lapu Lapu City tiff last April 14, with the Heroes’ Rendell Senining shooting free throws with his left and right hand on separate occasions, both of which he badly missed.
Mystics players Joshua Alcober, Ryan Buenafe, Jan Penaflor, Gene Bellaza, Michael Calomot, Frederick Rodriguez, Jopet Quiro, Isagani Gooc, Miguel Castellano, Juan Aspiras, Peter Buenafe, Vincent Tangcay, and Michael Sereno have been banished from the league, including their coach Joel Palapal and his staff.
Castellano and Sereno were later spared from sanctions since they were not present in the controversial match.
