by Hilario A. Espiritu, Jr. & Allan B. Galicinao

Department of Education Secretary Sonny Angara of DepEd Central Office and Ilocos Norte Governor Matthew Marcos Manotoc of Field Executives, among other top officials, staged a thrilling hard court exhibition game at the Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena as the Palarong Pambansa basketball games kicked off on May 25.

It was the first time where dignitaries from all over the archipelago to come together and to showcase their basketball prowess in a friendly game which turned out to be an instant classic as Manotoc’s Field Executives edged Angara’s Central Office, 55-53, much to the delight of the attendees and supporters of both teams.

Field Executives controlled the early part of the opening half behind Manotoc’s defensive dominance with six blocks, three rebounds and one steal, alongside four of his 10 points while Jayson Larawan added four boards as they dictated the tempo, 17-5, catching the Central Office off guard.

Angara facilitated the offense for the Central Office with their first basket, then added another from a fast break play with Manotoc at the defensive end. Marlon Legaspi and Bogs Malaga combined with 18 points and six boards to fuel a major uprising and close out the first half, 28-25 in favor of the Field Executives.

Crowd were even thrilled with the back-and-forth action from start to finish of the second half as both teams went neck-and-neck featuring multiple lead changes. Angara wowed the crowed as he sank a three to put the Central Office at the driver seat, 41-40 at the six-minute mark of the game.

Coming off the bench, Manotoc revived his dominance in the defensive end adding five blocks, three rebounds and two steals while chipping in with six points and dishing couple of assists to back up the Field Executives within a striking distance under the two-minute mark.

Christian de la Cruz, Principal II of Region III Science High School, grabbed the limelight with his back-to-back three-point conversion and Larawan sank two crucial free throws to put the Field Executives in the winning position, 55-53, with 35 ticks remaining in the game. One more defensive stop from Manotoc in the dying seconds foiled a potential game-tying basket as they captured the gold medal of the historic game.

“𝘍𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘢-𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘰. 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘎𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘤 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵. 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘵,” exclaimed de la Cruz who was awarded the Most Valuable Player trophy.