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“At a gLANCE”
Words and photos by Patricia Bermudez
Hizon
(February 18, 2009)
Scottie Pippen once said “Pressure
can burst a pipe or pressure can make a diamond”.
 During
Happe Toothpaste’s last semis stand against Harbor
almighty, there was a player courageous enough to take
the pressure-filled last shot. It would have been an
endgame 3-point winning basket for the team to live
to fight another day. But the shot was short. Game over.
This is not to liken him to a busted pipe.
Absolutely not. He certainly came out of it with the
makings of a diamond – there’s brilliance
there like no other, and it was evident with his career-high
24 points. He’s the gutsy Lance Convento.
 At
24 years of age, he’s been dedicated to the sport
for 2 decades already. His father Romeo, a computer
salesman, has always been a basketball fanatic and was
as huge an influence as Michael Jordan, Grant Hill and
Rey Allen were to the doe-eyed young baller who grew
up watching as much of the US NCAA and NBA while studying
in Cerritos Elementary and High School in California.
 Lance’s
talent was evident particularly in high school where
he became part of the 1st team all-league team, got
the MVP award in his senior year, and a couple of more
MVP plums in other tournaments he joined. “High
school was when I had the time of my life, from the
friends I made to the skills I picked up”, he
recalled.
So engrossed was he to the sport that
he ended up going to Cal-State Fullerton to study Kineseology,
a fallback should basketball not be part of his future.
But the way it’s looking now, plan B will have
to wait. The boy from Long Beach is definitely making
waves in the PBL as Happee Toothpaste’s savvy
court general and as a future PBA draft prospect.
He’s happy to end up with a Christian
organization, and praised the management for “being
good people who share similar morals”. It’s
quite rare that you find a player who sees things that
way. He’s also grateful to be under the wings
of Coach Gee Abanilla. “He’s an excellent
coach, not too strict or lenient; he was a player before
so he really understands the game. I have a lot of respect
for him”.
 Before
making the big move to Manila, Lance got to play with
the LA Showtime Team with his childhood family friend,
now next door neighbor and mentor, Ryan Reyes, and other
PBA players like Chris Pacana. The pros tell him to
play like he did back home and he should be alright.
Well, Lance is an excellent leader on the court, very
unselfish and has a lot of hustle in him – a good
fit for the pros.
He admits though that he’s still
working on being more vocal and consistent, and he wants
to be stronger and quicker. Everyday he has those goals
in mind, as he goes from his 2-bedroom apartment which
he shares with fellow rookie Josh Vanlandingham, to
practice and to the gym. “That’s all we
do”.
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Lance
is living on his own for the first time, half a world
away from the creature comforts of home. It’s
been tough to catch a cab or take other means of public
transportation every day but the 250 peso per hour home
massages more than make up for the discomforts. Josh
and Lance eat out everyday and play video games while
taking turns sitting on their one and only chair in
their empty living room. Despite all that, he’s
quite positive and upbeat about the opportunity given
to him here.
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