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Diego Dario

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Diego Dario
No. 4 – Meralco Bolts
PositionPoint guard
LeaguePBA
Personal information
Born (1997-01-06) January 6, 1997 (age 27)
San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines
Listed height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Listed weight145 lb (66 kg)
Career information
High schoolUPIS (Quezon City)
CollegeUP (2014–2018)
PBA draft2018: 3rd round, 24th overall pick
Selected by the Blackwater Elite
Playing career2019–present
Career history
2019–2020Blackwater Elite
2021Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards
2022Davao Occidental Tigers
2023–presentMeralco Bolts
Career highlights and awards

Diego Miguel Dario (born January 6, 1997) is a Filipino professional basketball player for the Meralco Bolts of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). A high school standout, he has played for the Philippine national under-17 team. He is also a former collegiate star player for the UP Fighting Maroons and has since won a PBA championship with Meralco. He is also an analyst for One Sports.

Early life and high school career

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Dario was born in San Juan, Metro Manila.[1] His father taught him basketball at the age of five. He then joined basketball camps and tried out for grade school varsity.[2]

At 5”1, Dario tried out for the varsity team of the University of the Philippines Integrated School (UPIS). He got cut as he was too short. That didn't deter him as he did extra work with his father.[2] He patterned his game after the likes of Kyrie Irving and Chris Paul.[3] A change in his diet also helped him grow six more inches.[2]

The following year, Dario made the team.[2] He became one of the scoring leaders of the entire UAAP juniors division, averaging 19.2 points per game while also averaging 4.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.2 steals per game.[4] He also got to play in the 2014 NBTC All-Star Game and the SLAM Rising Stars Classic.[5][3]

College career

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UP Fighting Maroons

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After his stint with UPIS, Dario had college offers from other schools, including Ateneo de Manila. He chose to stay with UP's program, as his parents and brother had studied in UP.[2]

Dario missed several games of his rookie season during UAAP Season 77 due to commitments to play in the FIBA U17 World Championship.[6] In his debut, he scored six points off the bench in a lopsided loss to the NU Bulldogs.[7][8] He then had 10 points in a loss to the FEU Tamaraws.[9] In the final game of the season, he led with 13 points, but they lost to the Adamson Soaring Falcons. With the loss, they only won one game that season.[10]

In Season 78, Dario scored 15 points in a loss to the UST Growling Tigers followed by 10 points in a loss to FEU.[11][12] Against the Ateneo Blue Eagles, he led with 14 points.[13] They unfortunately finished the season 3–11, which was still better than its combined record from the past two UAAP seasons.[14]

From Seasons 79 to 80, Dario had less playing time from 17 minutes in his first two seasons to just 11.9.[15] During this time, he got to participate in the UAAP's first ever Three-Point Contest.[16]

In a loss to UST during the first round of eliminations of Season 81, Dario scored 10 points. After the first round, UP had a record of 3–4.[17] After another loss to begin the second round, he, Paul Desiderio, and other graduating players called a seniors-only meeting to discuss improvements, which they then suggested to the coaches. With their suggestions quickly implemented, they also resolved to practice harder.[18] Against UE, he scored eight straight points in the fourth quarter to lead UP to a win, and finished with 13 points.[15] He then missed a game as he got accidentally hit in the neck in practice, and had to be hospitalized. Still, UP made it back to the Final Four for the first time in 21 years. There they beat Adamson for their first finals appearance in 28 years.[18]

Professional career

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Blackwater Elite

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Dario applied for the 2018 PBA Draft after UP returned to the UAAP finals.[19] There he was picked in the third round, 24th overall by the Blackwater Elite.[20][21] He signed with the team for one year.[22] In a loss to the Magnolia Hotshots during the 2019 Philippine Cup, he scored 11 points.[23] His contract was then extended for another year.[24]

On June 11, 2021, Dario was cut from the Elite.[25] Initially, they wanted him for their PBA 3x3 team. However, Blackwater backed out of the tournament.[26] In 17 games played with the Elite, he averaged 2.4 points and 1.5 assists per contest.[27]

Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards

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After getting cut, Dario stayed in shape by playing for Primus 7A in the amateur tournament 2021 FilBasket Subic Championship.[28] He then joined the Nueva Ecija Rice Vanguards in the 2021 MPBL Invitational.[29] His team made it to the finals, where they lost to Basilan Jumbo Plastic.[30]

Davao Occidental Tigers

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Dario then had a stint with the Davao Occidental Tigers in the PSL.[27]

Meralco Bolts

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In 2022, Dario joined the Meralco Bolts as a practice player.[31] He finally joined the main lineup for the 2023 Governors' Cup.[27] He won his first PBA championship in the 2024 Philippine Cup.[32]

PBA career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

As of the end of 2023–24 season[33]

Season-by-season averages

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Year Team GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2019 Blackwater 17 8.8 .286 .273 .500 .5 1.5 .4 — 2.4
2020 Blackwater 9 5.1 .300 .364 .500 .3 .8 — — 2.0
2022–23 Meralco 2 3.9 .333 .333 — .5 .5 .5 — 2.5
2023–24 Meralco 15 9.8 .275 .214 .692 .6 1.2 .1 — 2.5
Career 43 8.1 .287 .267 .609 .5 1.2 .2 — 2.3

National team career

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In 2013, Dario joined the Philippine national under-17 team for the 2013 FIBA Asia U-16 Championship.[34] He also played for them in the FIBA U-17 World Championship.[35][36]

Off the court

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After he was cut from Blackwater in 2021, Dario joined the daily sports show The Game on One Sports, where he guested twice to talk about the ongoing NBA playoffs.[25] He eventually became one of the program's hosts while also being an analyst for PBA and UAAP games.[31][37] He also wrote articles for NBA.com Philippines.[38]

Personal life

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In 2024, Dario got engaged with former UAAP courtside reporter now a sports producer Sam Corrales after seven years of dating.[39][32]

References

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  1. ^ "Philippines | 2013 FIBA Asia U16 Championship for Men | ARCHIVE.FIBA.COM". archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  2. ^ a b c d e Reyes, Kate (May 31, 2020). "Diminutive Diego Dario stands tall to continue his late father's dream". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  3. ^ a b Velasquez, James (March 22, 2014). "SLAM Rising Stars: Diego Dario | SLAMonline Philippines". SLAM Online PH. Archived from the original on 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  4. ^ Terrado, Reuben (March 26, 2014). "For a change, high school standout Diego Dario says he's leaning toward joining lowly UP Maroons in UAAP". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  5. ^ Terrado, Reuben (February 24, 2014). "Stars of the future Tolentino, Cani, Ravena show wares in Seaoil-NBTC All-Stars". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  6. ^ Terrado, Reuben (June 7, 2014). "Backcourt trio to miss UP Maroons games owing to PH youth team commitment". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  7. ^ Terrado, Reuben (July 19, 2014). "UP coach Madrid praises rookie Dario for defiant stand: 'Hindi sumusuko si Diego'". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  8. ^ Olivares, Rick (July 22, 2014). "UAAP Rookie Watch Week 2". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  9. ^ Leyba, Olmin (August 30, 2014). "Tentative Tams fend off hard-fighting Maroons". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  10. ^ Terrado, Reuben (September 16, 2014). "Tears of joy for Duremdes as lowly Adamson Falcons book first win on final game of UAAP season". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  11. ^ Tan, September 13, 2015. "UP inilaglag, mas astig ang Uste". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-08-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ Terrado, Reuben (September 20, 2015). "FEU Tamaraws whip skidding UP Maroons for second straight win and share of UAAP lead". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  13. ^ Almo, Alder (November 4, 2015). "Eagles continue rise, oust Maroons". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  14. ^ Ganglani, Naveen (November 18, 2015). "UE ends season on high note after beating UP". Archived from the original on 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  15. ^ a b "Dario sees hard work pay off in UP's win over UE". ESPN.com. 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  16. ^ Isaga, JR (2017-10-21). "Ateneo's Dan Angelo Wong wins inaugural UAAP JBL 3-point shootout". RAPPLER. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  17. ^ Li, Matthew (2018-10-10). "'For Steve': UST runs roughshod on UP to end round on high note". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  18. ^ a b Cruz, Danine (December 7, 2018). "UAAP Finals: UP's turning point of the season as told by seniors | ABS-CBN Sports". Archived from the original on 2018-12-08. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  19. ^ Saldajeno, Ivan (December 10, 2018). "Former Batang Gilas playmaker Dario makes last-second dash as 48 ballers join PBA Draft". Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  20. ^ Dalupang, Denison Rey A. (2018-12-23). "Reality bites in PBA Draft; road to pros not always easy". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  21. ^ "LIST: The 2018 PBA Rookie Draft picks". GMA News Online. 2018-12-16. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  22. ^ Li, Matthew (2018-12-27). "Paul Desiderio, Abu Tratter sign max contracts with Blackwater". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  23. ^ Bacnis, Justine (2019-03-22). "Magnolia hands Blackwater sour exit, moves near quarters". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  24. ^ Leongson, Randolph B. (February 8, 2020). "Canaleta set for 15th year as Blackwater signs Sena, Dario, Gabriel to one-year deal". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  25. ^ a b Ramos, Gerry (June 11, 2021). "Diego Dario now a free agent after Blackwater cut". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  26. ^ Ramos, Gerry (June 12, 2021). "Words of encouragement pour in as Diego Dario eyes next PBA job". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  27. ^ a b c Li, Matthew (2023-01-24). "Diego Dario cracks Meralco lineup, signs one conference deal". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  28. ^ Terrado, Reuben (November 7, 2021). "Davao Occidental, AICC Manila grab fifth wins to keep Filbasket lead". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  29. ^ "Dario tumalon sa MPBL". www.abante.com.ph. 2021-11-28. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  30. ^ Verora Jr, Levi Joshua (2021-12-26). "'He's a fighter': Juico overcame cramps to make MPBL-winning assist". Sports Bytes Philippines. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  31. ^ a b Ramos, Gerry (April 14, 2022). "Diego Dario's role at Meralco: Act as Bolts' opposing guard". Spin.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  32. ^ a b Mina, Inna (June 17, 2024). ""'Yan ang fiance ko": Sports producer Sam Corrales is proud of her PBA champ boyfriend, Meralco Bolts' Diego Dario". onesports.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  33. ^ "Diego Dario Player Profile, Meralco Bolts – RealGM". basketball.realgm.com.
  34. ^ Villar, Joey (September 24, 2013). "PHL eyes to repeat 4th-place finish in FIBA-Asia U16 tiff". Philstar.com. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  35. ^ "Undersized Batang Gilas ready to shock the world in Under-17 championships". Spin.ph. August 5, 2014. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  36. ^ Li, Matthew (2024-07-03). "Team USA shatters Gilas Boys' FIBA U17 World Cup title dreams with 96-point victory". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  37. ^ Li, Matthew (2022-03-23). "UAAP products to serve as analysts for Cignal broadcast". Tiebreaker Times. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  38. ^ "Articles | Author: Diego Dario | NBA.com Philippines". nba.onesports.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
  39. ^ Mina, Inna (August 14, 2024). "Spark of love: Meralco's Diego Dario now engaged to former UAAP courtside reporter Sam Corrales". onesports.ph. Retrieved 2024-08-14.
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