SJ MOORE shone the brightest among his fellow high school stars after he led Team Hustle to a 108-91 win over Team Heart in the Under Armour-NBTC All-Star Game on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Moore had 19 points including a couple of highlight plays to lead Team Hustle to the victory. The Arellano cager was also named as the Most Outstanding Player of the game.
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Moore, ranked No. 15 by the NBTC in its player rankings, had 10 points in the first quarter to enable Team Hustle to grab a big lead early, and enter the break with a 55-39 lead.
Team Hustle even led by as many as 25 points, 86-61, late in the third quarter.
“For me, it was about being the top player among the 24 best,” said Moore. “Getting a chance a play with all the best NCAA juniors (players), I'm lucky to be chosen to be the best player.”
Kieffer Alas of La Salle-Zobel had 14 points, while Andy Gemao, coming off his NCAA juniors finals MVP win for Letran, had 13 points, most of them on dunks, for Team Hustle, mentored by La Salle women’s coach Cholo Villanueva.
Chris Hubilla of San Beda had 27 points to lead Team Heart, coached by former College of Saint Benilde coach TY Tang.
“For me it's a great experience being a coach. You want to be honing the next generation of basketball players and being a part of this event is really a privilege for me,” said Villanueva.
Meanwhile, Lorence Dela Cruz of Winnipeg won the Slam Dunk contest following a one-handed windmill slam off a bounce pass by himself. It drew a 50 from the judges that included TNT’s Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Mikey Williams, and Glenn Khobuntin.
John Rex Villanueva of Batang Tiaong captured the Three-Point Shootout, beating the St. Jude’s Kobe Chong, 15-11, in the final round.
Kristian Porter of Ateneo beat Vhoris Marasigan of Batang Tiaong in the Skills Challenge of the event backed by Smart, SM, Strong Realty and Development Corp., Under Armour, and Molten and also supported by Tecno, Regent, Rebisco, Jollibee, San Miguel Corp., Maynilad, Rebel Sports Pilipinas, MNL Kingpin, Gatorade, Swish App by NBN23, Victory Liner, Jasper Jean, Darlington, Exped, Mr. Freeze, Coach E Basketball School, Lighthouse Events, and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
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