Lim Eng Beng let his game do the talking

MANILA, Philippines – Broad-shouldered, Lim Eng Beng terrorized guards with his clutch shooting and hounded forwards with good timing in his long basketball career from the Filipino-Chinese league until the PBA.

“He let his game do the talking,” said Ramon Fernandez, one of the legends of Philippine basketball, in  a private message on Facebook after getting news of Lim’s death on Sunday at the age of 64.

Lim Eng Beng scored from anywhere in the court and drove to the basket with that crossover dribble that threw guards off balance. Nemie Villegas, assistant coach with the Manila Beer Brewmasters, Lim’s last PBA team, said Lim’s long-range jumpers were as accurate as a dunk.

“He was not that fast but he knew how to react. He was tough to guard because he knew how to protect the ball with body, making it difficult to guards to even stab at the ball,” said Villegas in a phone interview with Rappler.com. Villegas added that even if Lim was a dead-shot, “he was a team man.”

In his prime, the muscular 180 pound, 5-11 Lim was tireless and he proved it being on the court with import Glenn McDonald for the entire Game 5 overtime victory of U-Tex against Toyota in the 1980 Open Conference.

In that unforgettable game, Toyota led by 4 with 16 seconds left in regulation. But U-Tex forced the battle into overtime. With Lim and new recruit William Adornado leading the attack, the Wranglers pulled off a victory that is still being discussed by basketball fans.

“I had to be helped off the court with McDonald. I couldn’t take a step further,” said Lim in an interview with this writer in 2011 for another publication. That was the second U-Tex championship won in the PBA under coach Tommy Manotoc.

Fame did not go to Lim’s head. He remained approachable and never showed any airs of a superstar. “He was a very simple and easy to get along with. He mingled with everybody in La Salle,” said basketball historian Henry Liao in a phone interview with Rappler.com. “He was one year ahead of me but we had one subject together.”

Lim was recruited by coach Tito Eduque for La Salle after ending a glorious season for Chiang Kai Shek in the 1970 Filipino-Chinese Secondary Basketball Championship, the forerunner of the Tiong Lien tourneys. Liao said Lim’s Chiang Kai Shek crew defeated Philippine Cultural High School, led by Atoy Co in the final but it was Co who got the MVP.

(READ: Glory Days: Ateneo vs La Salle)

Lim was instrumental in La Salle’s 1971 NCAA triumph and a memorable victory for the 1974 NCAA championship over Jose Rizal College and Ateneo. That year, Lim scored 55 points vs Letran, surpassing the old NCAA record of 52 by Ricky Pineda, then playing for Letran. Then he also fired 54 vs Trinity, said Liao, an effort spiked by 16/16 free throw shooting.

With such a record, Lim would have been called at least to tryout for the national team, but he was still a Chinese citizen. For most of his playing years, that was Lim’s regret. “I was never able to play for the Philippines,” he said in an interview with this writer.

Lim said Taiwan was making inquiries as late as 1978 if he could play for them but he refused as he was playing in the PBA. He joined a group of top Filipino-Chinese basketball players who were not able to suit up for the Philippines because of nationality issues.

It’s a sad year for cage fans with the demise of Ernesto Estrada, the scoring machine of San Miguel, Yco gunslinger Egay Gomez and Lim Eng Beng, both of whom were some of the best players who failed to suit up for the country in major international tournaments. – Rappler.com