Fil-Am guard to play at Marqus Blakely's alma mater

The San Mig Coffee Mixers completed a Grand Slam by winning all three championships in the 39th Season of the PBA and have actually won four straight dating back to the third conference of Season 38.  In two of those championships, one of the main contributors was import Marqus Blakely, a graduate of the University of Vermont in the US, an NCAA Division I school, whose players are called the Catamounts.

While the twenty-five year old American has contributed to local hoops, there is a Filipino-American who will be playing for Vermont in the upcoming US NCAA season, looking to make a contribution there.  His name is Ernie Marcelino Duncan, and he aspires to one day make it to the NBA.

Ernie was born in Los Angeles, California on May 2, 1994 to Stan Duncan, an American, and Melinda Severo, a Filipina who was born and raised in the Philippines, living in Malabon. His late grandfather was named Marcelino, which is where he got his second name. His grandmother is Veronica Garcia Severo.

Ernie grew up in Evansville, Indiana and played high school basketball there for Evansville Harrison, where he starred and was named the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference Player of the Year as a senior in 2014. He was the first player in Evansville Harrison history to reach the 1,000-point mark in his junior year.

He finished his career at Evansville Harrison as the all-time leader in scoring (eclipsing former NBA players Walter McCarty and Calbert Cheaney), assists, and games played, averaging 20 points, 6 assists and 4 rebounds in his final year.  He was one of the top high school players in the basketball-crazy state of Indiana throughout his college career, being named to All-State teams in all four of his playing years.

The eldest of five siblings at twenty years old and standing 6’3”, Ernie’s three younger brothers, twins Stanley and Everett, both nineteen, and Robin, who will turn sixteen this month, were actually his teammates in high school and are looking to follow his footsteps in an established college/university program. In fact, Vermont has already also offered Everett a scholarship for next year, so he will most likely join Ernie on the Catamount roster. The twins stand 6’5”, and Robin is already as tall as Ernie at 6’3”. 

Because of his outstanding performance in the tightly-watched basketball state of Indiana, Ernie drew interest from several NCAA Division I schools, including Indiana, Purdue, Clemson, and Butler, and was offered a scholarship by Florida Gulf Coast, Toledo, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Evansville, Wright State, Ball State, Southern Illinois, and, of course Vermont. 

After having verbally committed to enroll at Evansville, Ernie ultimately chose Vermont, which recruited him aggressively. Vermont Coach John Becker is said to consider Ernie “the best recruit he’s ever landed” and Ernie’s commitment to Vermont apparently influenced some other recruits to go over there as well. The Catamounts will have five freshmen on their roster this coming season, and Coach Becker said he expects Ernie to contribute right away.

Ernie is a guard who can handle the ball, has a deft outside touch, can penetrate and finish at the hoop, and has good passing skills.  Given that he will play in Division I, Ernie believes that the opportunity to make it to the NBA is there.  He is eager to play against the top teams and talents in the US, and is willing to put in the hard work to improve each day.  He considers himself a gym rat who is constantly trying to get better, and loves the game of basketball so much.  Hopefully, he is given the opportunity to immediately showcase his skills and set out on his quest to penetrate the NBA.

Ernie recognizes of course that the opportunity to play in the NBA may elude him and sees the possibility of eventually playing in the PBA as a means of continuing his basketball career.  He has relatives here who are, not surprisingly, basketball fans and who have been following his and his brothers’ basketball journey.

He is constantly in touch with his relatives through social media and he knows how basketball-crazy Filipinos can get.  They are excited for him and the chance he has to play for Vermont, even if he has not seen them since he last visited the Philippines more than ten years ago.  His Filipino heritage is important to him and he is well aware that every time he steps on the court, he is representing the Philippines and wants to make Filipinos proud of him.

After a storied high school basketball career, Ernie is raring to make a name for himself in NCAA Division I. Perhaps, like Blakely, a two-time conference Player of the Year and three-time conference Defensive Player of the Year at Vermont, Ernie can lead the Catamounts on both ends of the floor and help his team qualify for March Madness.  From there, anything can happen.

We wish Ernie Duncan the best of luck as he looks to make an impact in his freshman year at the University of Vermont.  We’ll be watching him and hoping for the best.

You can follow Charlie on Twitter @CharlieC.