THE DREAM of Cebuano guard Eliud Poligrates to make it to the PBA has finally come true.
This, after a source said that the flashy point guard from Camotes Island has signed a deal with the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters.
According to University of the Visayas assistant coach Van Halen Parmis, a close confidante of Poligrates owing to the latter’s playing days with the multi-titled commercial squad CM Farms of Tagum City, the 6-foot guard has signed a two-year pact with the Tropang Texters, the team that picked him 27th overall in the recent PBA draft, joining a stacked backcourt composed of Jayson Castro, Jimmy Alapag and Jai Reyes.
This development also makes for a rousing debut for the former Southwestern University King Cobra as he is set to play his very first professional game at the place where it all started – Cebu City. The Texters are opening their season here in a game against sister squad, the Meralco Bolts, on November 17 at the Cebu Coliseum.
It has been a long road for the left-handed gunner who nearly saw his basketball career go down the drain way back in 2009 after he was meted a lifetime ban by the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) for “gross dishonesty.”
That odyssey took Poligrates down a pedestrian path that saw him suit up for commercial squads here and there, including Cebu’s very own M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños and the Mandaue-Cebu Landmasters. He also played for the Misamis Oriental Meteors in the defunct Liga Pilipinas before finally deciding to try his luck in the PBA D-League.
There, he struck oil as he eventually rose up to become the star of the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns before briefly suiting up for the Café France Bakers. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio