By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
All the sacrifices and the six-hour back-and-forth trip were all worth it.
Going up against 70 other shooters from Region VI, Peter Gim Traviña all the way from Tigbauan, Iloilo defied the odds and went on a grueling three-round journey to finally become the ODM Sports League x Wilson Sports Philippines’ first-ever Three-Point Shootout grand champion.
It wasn’t an easy way qualifying to the championship round as Traviña only scored 14 points in the first round and had a slow start after struggling in the middle rack.
Traviña’s 14 points proved to be enough to take him to the semifinal round where the 70 shooters were cut down to just 15.
Tigbauan’s microwave shooter was quick to recover from his first-round woes after topping the semifinals with 18 big points including three clutch money balls that made up his zero production in the middle rack.
From the top 15 semifinalists, the grand final was a showdown between the top five shooters and Nobi Bernal who earned an outright seat after leading all shooters during the elimination phase with 18 points.
It was an action-packed final round as the grand finalists put on a show and scored decent productions to fight for the last spot.
Capiz’s Aron Valle took the early lead after scoring 17 points but Traviña showed the way and displayed a shooting clinic after edging him with his title-clinching 19 points.
Traviña immediately put the crowd to their feet after scoring a perfect 5/5 in the first rack and survived another scare after slowing down in the middle rack.
After reaching the 15-point mark when he sank his first money ball, Traviña missed two-straight shots in the last 20 seconds but came back when he buried the last two shots that put him as the new scoring leader ahead of Valle.
The next shooters weren’t able to reach Traviña’s score with RJ Deseo and Burnok Olendo putting up 15 points, Renato Japsay with 11, and Jaspher Daliva with eight.
This is Traviña’s second-straight three-point shootout crown after winning the JB Amateur Basketball League (JB ABL) three-point shootout.
