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| Dylan Despi. |
MANILA—Dylan Despi, a standout of the Bacolod Tay Tung High School Thunderbolts, has taken his talents here after committing to play for the University of Santo Tomas Tiger Cubs.
The Bacolod City native opted to transfer to the Tiger Cubs amid numerous enticing offers from other schools here in the north as he believes that he will improve more as a player with UST.
“Ever since na nagsimula akong maglaro ng basketball ay dream ko na talaga na makapaglaro sa Manila, particularly sa UAAP. So I am thankful na isa sa mga lumapit sa akin ang UST,” Despi said.
“Actually, there are a number of schools who approached me but I chose UST kasi nakita ko na maganda ang basketball program [nila] and I also heard na iba rin magpakita ng suporta ang mga Tomasino,” he added.
The 17-year-old Despi has a number of Most Valuable Player trophies as a member of the Thunderbolts and was recently tapped to play for the RST Don Bosco Dumaguete team in the SM National Basketball Training Center National Finals in Pasay.
Tiger Cubs team manager Jarvis Co, for his part, believes the 6-foot-1 Bacolodnon guard will be a key addition to the UST crew of head coach Manu Inigo as they hope to improve their fourth-place finish in the UAAP Season 85 juniors’ basketball.
“Coach Manu was really impressed when he saw Dylan’s video while playing in the NBTC,” Co said. “He will definitely have his minutes with us and we will assure you that we will take care of his basketball career moving forward.”
Despi further said that the impending move to the Tiger Cubs inspired him more to continue to work on his abilities as he vowed to help the squad to reach its goal in the upcoming UAAP juniors’ season.
“I will definitely help the team as much as I can. I will do my best to lead the team to reach its goals in UAAP juniors’ basketball, which is to win the championship by God’s grace,” Despi said.
He also extended his gratitude to Bacolod Tay Tung, led by Brian Tan, Jose Montalbo, Manuel Ma, Dexter Dy, Renato Callora, Roger Montalbo, principal Philip Carpina and his father Yong, for playing a role in his development as a basketball player and as a person.
“They are the ones who saw me when I was still starting as a basketball player. They played a huge role in my development as a player, so I am dedicating my UST stint to them. I want to make them proud,” he said.
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