Tallo foregoes final year in Cesafi hoop tourney
Cebu Daily News
First Posted 08:47:00 06/19/2010
Filed Under: Basketball

REIGNING Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) juniors division MVP Mark Jayven Tallo will not be donning the Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) Wildkittens jersey this season.

In fact, he will not be seen anywhere on the court when the brand new Cesafi season opens on July 31.

The prodigious star chose to forego his final year of eligibility in the league by transferring to the Cebu Eastern College (CEC) Dragons.

Cesafi commissioner Felix “Boy” Tiukinhoy said that with Tallo transferring, he will be forfeiting his last year of eligibility since any player moving from one member school to another must serve two years of residency.

The development comes as a surprise for supporters and basketball fans in the city, many of whom were expecting an encore performance from Tallo, last year's MVP who led the Wildkittens to their first and only title in the Cesafi.

Tallo's father, Mark, a former player in the PBA and a consultant for CIT last season, said the reason for the transfer was because of a conflict with a school teacher.

According to him, the conflict surfaced between Mark Jayven and his Social Studies subject teacher after the latter failed the former in the subject last semester.

The elder Tallo also said the teacher allegedly uttered some ugly remarks when Mark Jayven got injured while playing for the Wildkittens in the Cesafi Partner's Cup.

This prompted the parent to transfer his son to another school./Correspondent Jonas Panerio