By REY LACHICA
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – At 58, Elmer Reyes is no longer as agile as he was 30 years ago. But don’t leave him wide open.
A deadshot during his Northern Consolidated Cement (NCC) days under the revered coach Ron Jacobs, Reyes fired 16 points to lead the 60s of the Filipino-Chinese Basketball Veterans Association (FCVBA) to another lopsided win – this time a 58-37 drubbing of host Club 51 in the 26th ASEAN Veterans Basketball Tournament yesterday at the MABA gym here.
Aside from his medium range jumpers, Reyes still awed his defenders with flashes of his patented moves that caught his defenders by surprise most of the time.
For their win, FCVBA now has two teams in the finals – the other is the 65-years-and-above team that is also being handled by Edster Sy.
Backed by Ironcon Builders’ Jimi Lim, Freego’s Eduard Tio, Johnny Chua and Rain or Shine’s Terry Que, the 65s will be going for a title repeat against Hatyai of Thailand.
FCVBA’s third team – the 50s of coach Mac Tan – was playing against Hatyai for a spot in the final at presstime.
Both the 50s and 60s are going for a three-peat in the annual tournament for players with Chinese blood.
Reyes was ably supported by Julio Cruz, Kenneth Yap, Aris Francis, Andrew Ongteco, Jose Lao and Conrad Siy.
A former La Salle star, Yap finished with 13 points despite missing three free throws. He missed only once in three previous games.
Despite their tentative start, the 60s still took a 27-13 lead at halftime which they wisely protected to earned their 9th final appearance in 10 years.
Led by Allan Caidic, Gerry Tee, Bong Tan, Joey Sta. Maria, Rodolfor Noel, Jr. Aristeo Guevarra and Stephen dela Cruz, the 50s completed a four-game sweep of their groups elims Wednesday by downing Indonesia’s Pontiainak.