CEBU CITY – Meralco’s home game here in the EASL 2025-26 season brought back a lot of good memories for Bolts head coach Luigi Trillo.
It was in the ‘Queen City of the South’ where he began his professional coaching career in 1999 when he was an assistant coach with the Cebu Gems in the now-defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA).
On Saturday, the Bolts will play against the Macau Black Bears in the newly-refurbished Cebu Coliseum, which was the old home court of the Gems.
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“Fond memories,” said Trillo, when he attended the EASL coaching clinic on Friday night at the Cebu Coliseum. “I hope we can get the same crowd because Cebu knows their basketball.”
Trillo was 24 years old when he took the leap and accepted the assistant coaching role in 1999 for the Cebu Gems, who were owned by Cebuana Lhuillier’s Jean Henri Lhuillier and the Gems were coached by Tonichi Yturri.
By being part of the Gems coaching staff, Trillo left Manila and stayed in Cebu City during the MBA season.
“I was young. When you are young, you are not tied down, you are excited, you want to go,” said Trillo as he looked back on accepting the job with the Gems.
“Cebu is nice. I have so many friends. The fans are great. They are passionate. Bata ka, you are excited. My wife also used to do the games," said Trillo, referring to his wife Ria, who was the courtside reporter for the MBA games when it was aired on ABS-CBN.
Trillo recalled the Cebu Coliseum – pre-renovation – where it was hot but had some of most boisterous crowds you’ll ever find. The old floor also had a mystique when playing in it.
“Now there’s aircon na, but before it was hot. The fans were some of the loudest. Fond, fond memories,” said Trillo.
“The rims are the same. I know the rims are the same. The court is new. The old court was not like this. It was dark. It felt like the Boston Garden, like it had dead spots. But there was something magical about it. No aircon, but I like that. That was like our advantage. We’re used to playing with that.”
What Trillo loves about the fans of Cebu is their knowledge of the game, which is why the Gems were determined to put the best team possible on the court.
“This court is loud, and the people of Cebu, they know basketball. They know that. But they're also, they're very passionate, but they have high expectations. With the Cebu Gems, we had to win. If not, they would feel bad which is why we were held to a high standard. High standard lagi kami,” said Trillo.
Trillo also remembered the old rivals of the Gems, particularly the Manila Metrostars, a team they faced and lost to in the 1999 national finals, and the Negros Slashers where they had a rivalry in the Southern Conference.
One of the most memorable games of the MBA came in that 1999 finals at the Cebu Coliseum when the Gems lost to the Metrostars in a classic double overtime thriller, 135-129, in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series. Manila eventually won the crown the next game.
“That was coach Louie Alas, Alex Compton, and Rommel Adducul,” Trillo recalled of that Manila Metrostars side. “On our side, we had Rob Wainwright, we had Dondon Hontiveros, the hometown hero Stephen Padilla.”
“The MBA days, that was tough. That team (Metrostars) was good. They had (Gilbert) Demape, they had Compton, they had (Augustus) Brown, some of the guys, Peter Martin who is now coaching San Miguel, Frechie Ang, that was a solid team.
“I remember playing also in Bacolod then. That was Papa Rey Hugnatan in there."
After his foray with the Gems, Trillo went on to start his PBA career as an assistant coach with Alaska in 2000, and later became the head coach of Adamson.
Twenty-six years after his stint with the Cebu Gems, Trillo comes back at the Cebu Coliseum as the head coach of the Bolts where they will look to claim a victory against the Macau Black Bears.
Knowing the fans, the Meralco mentor hopes that more games – either the EASL or even the PBA – will be played in Cebu City.
“If not Manila, Cebu would be a nice homebase. So you can really have a homecourt. Sana, however, the representative, I think it’s good to have it either in Manila or Cebu. That way, they can really cheer for the team,” he said.
“I wish we could have our games here because I know the crowd is going to help us 100 percent,” Trillo added.
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