On the brink of giving up, Cebuano Eliud Poligrates remained resilient and now nears first PBA stint

After seeing his once-promising collegiate career come to an acrimonious end in 2009, Eliud Poligrates was honest enough in admitting that he thought of giving up the game of basketball altogether and shifting to a farmer’s life.

Fortunately, that dark period in the flashy guard’s career has passed and now, with equal parts of resiliency and skill, finds himself in the position to do more after he was picked 27th overall by the Talk N Text Tropang Texters during the annual PBA Draft held last Sunday at the Robinson’s Place Manila.

That disheartening episode has not quite faded from the Camotes Island native’s memory and in an exclusive interview with Cebu Daily News Monday morning as he was riding the bus on his way to playing for the Café France Bakers for one more time in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup, he related that: “It took me one week to think it over, whether to continue playing basketball. For a while, I thought I’d just go back home to plant gabi.”

The 6-foot high-scoring left-handed gunner, who once suited up for the Southwestern University (SWU) Cobras in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc., continued, “It’s a good thing that some people encouraged me to continue playing.”

His stint at the Cebu powerhouse SWU ended bitterly as he was given a lifetime ban by the league for “gross dishonesty.”

This stemmed from an incident wherein Poligrates played in another league while the Cesafi tournament was still ongoing. Using the pseudo identity of “J. Mangubat,” Poligrates scored 57 points in a game held at Lokana, Brgy. Poblacion, which proved to be the nail on the coffin that ended his collegiate career.

That led Poligrates down a path that saw him suit up for the multi-titled M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Niños and the Misamis Oriental Meteors in the defunct Liga Pilipinas. Even those stints gave pause to Poligrates’ aspirations of making it to the pro leagues as he was used sparingly, due to a combination of his teams’ stacked rosters and his own mercurial play.

“Naka-ingon sad gyud ko na basin diri ra ko kutob sa basketball. Pero again, naay ni-advise na muadto kog Manila especially since I was still young,” Poligrates recounted.

He eventually donned the jersey of the Cagayan Valley Rising Suns of Alvin Pua and started to make a name for himself.

“It was a big adjustment when I transferred to Manila. In Cebu, I was used as a point guard. But here in Manila, I’m used more as a combo guard. It took a while before I got used to the system but I just worked hard so that I could finally realize my dream of making it to the PBA,” he added.

“Wala man jud ko nag-hunahuna na maka-abot ko sa PBA. Sa Camotes ug sa Danao (City) ra gyud ko sigeg duwa before ko nakit-an sa coaches sa SWU. Kinsa may magtuo na maabot ko sa PBA?” With a spot on the Texters’ lineup not guaranteed, Poligrates vowed to give it his all, learn as much as he can from veteran players such as Jimmy Alapag and Jayson Castro and hopefully, impress the coaches enough to earn his place in the big leagues.

“This is a dream come true for me. I admit feeling pressured but I really have to work hard during practice. I have to just keep on playing well and hopefully, I’ll be included in the lineup.”