MANILA, Philippines – On the first day of the PBA Draft Combine, one of the tiniest players on the field stood up.

Mark Nonoy, a guard with the Spitfires, was one of the best players during the two days of pre-draft activities held at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.

Officially standing at five feet nine inches, the native of Iloilo excelled in the running vertical leap and the 3/4 sprint test, two skill test categories.

With a time of 2.862 seconds, Nonoy—a former University of Santo Tomas mainstay who went on to win a UAAP men’s basketball title with La Salle during his senior year last season—topped the sprint test.

In the running vertical jump, he registered 53 inches, achieving the same result.

In the meantime, two wingmen and a large center performed admirably to share the limelight with Nonoy in the Arena Plus and Daily Fantasy tournament.

The 6-foot-4 former PBA 3×3 player Brandon Ramirez was the fastest in the response test, clocking in at 358 milliseconds. In the standing vertical leap and lane agility tests, 6-foot-2 National University’s MJ Malonzo and La Salle’s DJ Mitchell were notable performers.

Malonzo had a time of 11.49 seconds, while Mitchell cleared 43 inches in the air.

Among the 62 candidates that attended the first day of the two-day event, Kai Ballungay, who measured 6-foot-6 2/5 inches, and potential top pick Justin Baltazar stood out as the tallest at 6-foot-6 7/5 inches and 81.5 inches, respectively. Ronan Mendoza Santos was the player with the longest wingspan.

MVP of the Draft Combine is Policarpio.

Team B1 defeated Team A3 61-44 on Thursday at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig to win the two-day mini-tournament co-presented by Arena Plus and Daily Fantasy. JONNEL Policarpio was named the Draft Combine MVP.

In the decisive victory, Policarpio ended with 14 points to earn the MVP prize, which is valued at P10,000.

The former De La Salle mainstay remarked, “Bonus lang ito. Nagtulung-tulong lang kami ng mga teammates ko.”

Jordan Bartlett, Kury Reyson, Brandon Ramirez, and Justin Baltazar joined Policarpio on the Mythical Team.

Every member of the Mythical Team was given P5,000. Reyson scored the most points for the winning team (18), followed by Jose Rizal University’s Agem Miranda (17).

Abdul Sawat paced the losing side with 19 points.

Scores at the end of the match:

Team B1 with 61 points for the win

Individual Scores: Reyson 18, Miranda 17, Policarpio 14, Catapusan 5, Hanapi 5, Enriquez 2, Mosqueda 0, Arciaga 0, Verdugo 0.

Team A3 with 44 points

Individual Scores: Sawat 19, Darang 14, Garcia 8, Puray 2, Penney 1, Talampas 0, Escador 0, Santos 0, Jose 0.

Scores per Quarter

19-13, 35-24, 50-31, 61-44.