By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Encho Serrano just took a major leap in reaching his ultimate dream of playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) after confirming that he will be playing for the Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the 3×3 league.
The 22-year-old stalwart confirmed his latest career achievement during sports host Mikee Reyes’ Shoot First program that is streamed on YouTube.
Serrano turned a lot of heads after clinching back-to-back championships in the Chooks-to-Go NBL-Pilipinas Chairman’s Cup with Pampanga and the 2021 Chooks-to-Go MPBL Invitational tournament under Basilan.
His terrific finals performance against the stacked Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards also earned him the 2021 MPBL Finals Most Valuable Player Award.
“Maglalaro ako sa 3×3, sa PBA. Sa Ginebra. Wala pa kong team sa MPBL. Tsaka yung naisip ko rin, may experience naman ako sa 3×3,” said Serrano.
Serrano teamed up with AJ Edu, Rhayyan Amsali, and Juan Gomez de Liaño during the 2017 FIBA 3×3 Under-18 World Cup where they would end up in seventh place, one of the highest finishes obtained by the Gilas Pilipinas Youth in the international 3×3 scene.
After his experience playing for the Gilas Youth, the athletic shooting guard was acquired by the De La Salle University Green Archers and formed one of the most exciting backcourt rosters together with Aljun Melecio and Andre Caracut.
Serrano will look to help Ginebra in the PBA 3×3 where they failed to punch a grand finals ticket in all of the six legs.
