Ex-Tiger ace is RP-Powerade Team's top performer

Former UST Growling Tigers ace Cyrus Baguio emerged as the most consistent performer for the hard-luck RP-Powerade Team in the recent Fiba Asia Championship in Tianjin, China.

The 6-foot-2 guard highlighted his 21.6 minute average stint for the Nationals, which finished eight among 16 countries, with tournament norms of 11.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists to secure the 23rd spot in the player leader’s list topped by Jordanian hotshot Rasheim Wright.
The Philippines capped the 10-day meet with a 4-5 win-loss record.

Baguio posted double-digit outputs in five of the Nationals’ nine games, including a 17-point explosion against South Korea, which dealt the Philippines a heart-breaking 80-82 loss in the classification round for seventh place.

The Ginebra guard laced his final scoring act against the Koreans with a booming triple and two freethrows at the 1:21 mark of the fourth quarter to give the Philippines its last taste of the lead, 80-78.

In the Philippines’ 56-69 setback to the Koreans in their Group A match, Baguio sizzled with 16 points on 7-of-10 fieldgoal shooting while chipping in four rebounds and two steals. Against defending champion Iran, the Iligan City native logged in 14 markers on 4-of-5 sniping from the floor. Versus Jordan in the quarterfinals, Baguio scored the last basket of his nine-point total with 6:06 left in the fourth period to help the Philippines close in at 63-68 after trailing by as much as 14 in the third quarter.

Baguio has already expressed his intention to represent the country once more in the next Fiba Asia championship in 2011, the same year his alma mater will celebrate its Quadricentennial.