PAGADIAN, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR—Young Shaq Imperial has proven to be one of the most consistent scorers for Zamboanga Sibugay in the Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao Challenge.
But on Sunday night, he’s dominantly shown that he’s more than his offense.
Imperial made the game-winning block to lift the Anak Mindanao Warriors to a 91-89 overtime win over Roxas at the Pagadian City Gymnasium here.
With 4.3 seconds remaining off a timeout, the Vanguards found Cyrus Tabi at the right corner who then launched a triple but his shot was swatted away by Imperial to ice the win.
“Si Cyrus Tabi malakas siya sa offense eh kaya hinigpitan ko talaga, expecting na titira siya,” said the point guard out of Lapu-Lapu in Cebu.
“Binuo ko lang ‘yung loob ko na habulin ‘yung shot niya, buti inabot.”
The 5-foot-11 floor general has been smothering shots the whole night, not just that one game-winner, as he tallied a whopping six blocks to complete the all-around game of 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and a steal.
And it’s not luck as Imperial has been watching game films to better himself.
“Nag-aadjust ako kasi napapanood ko ‘yung clips ng games namin. Nakikita ko ‘yung mga kulang sa sarili ko kaya hinanap ko na mag defense talaga.”
The 2019 CESAFI MVP is all over the Zamboanga Sibugay leaderboard with averages of 13.7 points (first), 4.1 rebounds (fourth), 3.5 assists (second), and 1.9 steals (second).
With his eye-popping defense against Roxas, he has moved to the top spot in blocking department of the Warriors at 1.2 over big men Enrique Caunan, Michole Sorela, Rhaffy Octobre, and Cris Dumapig.
“Shaq is very consistent every game in terms of scoring and defense. Very fighter siya, hindi bumibigay yan. Every possession talaga go hard yan,” said head coach Arnold Oliveros.
But the Southwestern University product is not contented, forever a student of the game.
“Dadagdagan ko pa ‘yung assists ko saka ‘yung help defense ko kasi ‘yun pa ‘yung kulang ko eh. Yun ‘yung mga wino-workout ko pa.”
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