Cyrus Marata Baguio (born August 19, 1980) is a Filipino professional basketball player who last played for the Valenzuela Classic of the

Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League The Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) is a men's regional professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of 30 teams. Founded in 2017 by eight-division boxing world champion and then-Senator Manny Pacquiao, the MPBL is ...

(MPBL). He also formerly played in the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

(PBA) for 16 seasons before initially retiring, but has since came back from retirement to play in the MPBL. He is known for his dunks and acrobatic moves, thus his moniker "Skyrus".

Amateur and college career

Baguio started playing college ball at the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

by suiting up for the school's basketball varsity squad, the Growling Tigers. When he arrived in Manila from Cebu in the summer of 1999, he initially tried out for La Salle. The Green Archers’ coaching staff was interested in adding him to their lineup with a condition that he would be spending time under Team B for a couple of years before he could move up. He was dismayed, so he decided to look for another school. The moment he tried out for Aric del Rosario, he knew he had found his new home in Manila. He joined the Tigers three years after UST won four straight UAAP Men’s Basketball championships. At the time he arrived, La Salle was the new league power. He was still a freshman when they met the Green Archers in the 1999 UAAP finals where they defeated the Tigers for their second straight title. Citing academic deficiencies, he decided to sit out the entire 2001 season. Upon his return the following season, he led the Growling Tigers to the 2002 Final Four only to lose to the star-studded La Salle Green Archers squad. Nevertheless, he was selected as part of perhaps the deepest mythical five selection in the history of the UAAP that included University of the East's James Yap, Ateneo's Rich Alvarez and Enrico Villanueva and La Salle superstar Mike Cortez. He also suited up for Hapee/Kutitap Toothpaste in the PBL.

Professional career

He was drafted 14th overall by

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

in the 2003 PBA draft. Before the draft, many basketball pundits were expecting him to be a first round draftee because of his illustrious college career at UST. But during draft day, he was only picked in the second round, causing a shock to many basketball observers. During his rookie year, he played the support role but did well. Slowly, after Red Bull traded away its main men like

Willie Miller William Ferguson Miller MBE (born 2 May 1955) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, who made a club record 560 league appearances for Aberdeen. Sir Alex Ferguson described Miller as "the best penalty box defender in th ...

, Kerby Raymundo, Lordy Tugade, Enrico Villanueva, and Mick Pennisi, he then emerged as the team's leading scorer and main skipper. He led his team in scoring and in other departments during his time with Red Bull. And on his last year with the team, he ended his stint still scorching the net by being among the top 10 leading scorers in the league, and by being an All-Star caliber player. During the latter part of the 2008–09 PBA season, he along with Red Bull teammate Celino Cruz were traded to the Air21 Express for 2011 and 2012 draft picks. This trade then led Yeng Guiao to resign as Red Bull coach. In 2008, he was named to the

National Team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

under his former mentor in

, Coach

Yeng Guiao Joseller "Yeng" Medina Guiao (born March 19, 1959) is a Filipino professional basketball head coach, politician, commentator and sports commissioner. He is currently the head coach of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters of the Philippine Basketba ...

. In 2009, unhappy with his tenure in Burger King, he was dealt to the Barangay Ginebra Kings. He became part of the talented backcourt of the Gin Kings, together with National Teammate Jayjay Helterbrand, Mark Caguioa and Ronald Tubid. He was also reunited with his 2003 batchmates, Enrico Villanueva, Sunday Salvacion, and Tubid. In the middle of the eliminations of the 2010 Fiesta Conference, Barangay Ginebra shipped Baguio via a blockbuster one-on-one trade to Alaska Aces for two-time MVP Willer Miller. He considered this trade as the best thing that happened to his career. Since he was traded, he helped the Aces win the Fiesta Cup finals and was awarded co-Finals MVP together with LA Tenorio. Three years later, he would win another championship in the

2013 PBA Commissioner's Cup The 2012–13 PBA season, 2013 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) PBA Commissioner's Cup, Commissioner's Cup was the second conference of the 2012–13 PBA season. The tournament began on February 8 and ended on May 19, 2013. The tournament i ...

at the expense of his former team, Barangay Ginebra. On July 31, 2014, he, together with

JVee Casio Joseph Evans "JVee" D. Casio (born September 1, 1986) is a Filipino basketball player for the Blackwater Bossing of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He was drafted first overall by the Powerade Tigers in 2011 PBA draft. Early life Ca ...

and Sonny Thoss, signed new three-year contracts with the Aces, signalling his intention to remain with the Uytengsu franchise for the rest of his career. On July 13, 2016, he was traded along with 2017 2nd round pick to the

Phoenix Fuel Masters The Phoenix Fuel Masters is a professional basketball team owned by Phoenix Petroleum, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc., which debuted in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in the 2015–16 PBA season, 2016 2016 PBA Commissioner's C ...

for 2nd round picks in 2017 and 2018, respectively. On August 15, 2017, Phoenix traded him to the

NLEX Road Warriors The NLEX Road Warriors is a professional basketball team owned by Manila North Tollways Corporation, NLEX Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since the 2014 ...

as a part of a three-team trade between the Fuel Masters, Road Warriors, and

GlobalPort Batang Pier The NorthPort Batang Pier is a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team that first played in the 2012–13 PBA season. The team took over the franchise of the Powerade Tigers in 2012 after it was sold to Sultan 900 Capital, Inc. Besides N ...

where he got reunited with

. On January 24, 2021, Baguio announced his retirement from professional basketball. However, in 2022 Baguio came out of retirement to play for Valenzuela XUR Homes Realty Inc. of the

(MPBL). In his first game for the team, he scored 7 points on 3-for-3 shooting in a 87-78 win against Caloocan Excellence.

PBA career statistics

Real GM

Season-by-season averages

, - , align=left , , align=left , 2003 Batang Red Bull Thunder season, Red Bull , 4 , , 8.5 , , .833 , , — , , — , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , .3 , , 2.5 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 69 , , 18.7 , , .495 , , .318 , , .640 , , 2.5 , , 1.5 , , .6 , , .5 , , 5.7 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 67 , , 22.3 , , .440 , , .302 , , .651 , , 3.3 , , 2.5 , , .9 , , .4 , , 7.7 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 55 , , 24.2 , , .498 , , .352 , , .727 , , 3.3 , , 2.9 , , .7 , , .4 , , 11.3 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 48 , , 30.3 , , .512 , , .352 , , .690 , , 3.6 , , 3.7 , , 1.3 , , .6 , , 18.0 , - , align=left rowspan=3, , align=left ,

, rowspan=3, 48 , , rowspan=3, 25.4 , , rowspan=3, .437 , , rowspan=3, .308 , , rowspan=3, .752 , , rowspan=3, 2.9 , , rowspan=3, 2.3 , , rowspan=3, 1.3 , , rowspan=3, .6 , , rowspan=3, 10.5 , - , align=left ,

Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...

, - , align=left , Barangay Ginebra , - , align=left rowspan=2, , align=left , Barangay Ginebra , rowspan=2, 64 , , rowspan=2, 29.1 , , rowspan=2, .473 , , rowspan=2, .353 , , rowspan=2, .634 , , rowspan=2, 2.6 , , rowspan=2, 2.7 , , rowspan=2, 1.2 , , rowspan=2, .4 , , rowspan=2, 12.4 , - , align=left ,

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 38 , , 33.2 , , .400 , , .333 , , .767 , , 4.3 , , 3.1 , , 1.2 , , .5 , , 12.4 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 35 , , 33.2 , , .441 , , .386 , , .744 , , 4.4 , , 2.8 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 14.7 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 54 , , 32.6 , , .435 , , .404 , , .721 , , 3.8 , , 2.7 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , 13.4 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 44 , , 30.4 , , .418 , , .327 , , .746 , , 2.8 , , 2.8 , , .8 , , .4 , , 10.4 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 57 , , 24.4 , , .404 , , .292 , , .798 , , 2.9 , , 1.9 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 9.2 , - , align=left rowspan=2, , align=left ,

, rowspan=2, 59 , , rowspan=2, 24.6 , , rowspan=2, .406 , , rowspan=2, .302 , , rowspan=2, .733 , , rowspan=2, 3.3 , , rowspan=2, 2.5 , , rowspan=2, .8 , , rowspan=2, .3 , , rowspan=2, 8.8 , - , align=left , Phoenix , - , align=left rowspan=2, , align=left , Phoenix , rowspan=2, 36 , , rowspan=2, 23.1 , , rowspan=2, .401 , , rowspan=2, .361 , , rowspan=2, .786 , , rowspan=2, 2.8 , , rowspan=2, 2.6 , , rowspan=2, .8 , , rowspan=2, .3 , , rowspan=2, 7.8 , - , align=left ,

NLEX The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), signed as E1 of the Philippine expressway network, partially as N160 of the Philippine highway network, and partially as R-8 of the Metro Manila arterial road network, is a controlled-access highway that ...

, - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 40 , , 18.3 , , .462 , , .361 , , .763 , , 3.2 , , 2.6 , , .9 , , .3 , , 4.9 , - , align=left , , align=left ,

, 23 , , 10.0 , , .390 , , .222 , , .857 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , .3 , , .2 , , 2.5 , -class=sortbottom , align=center colspan=2 , Career , 741 , , 25.4 , , .446 , , .338 , , .715 , , 3.1 , , 2.5 , , .9 , , .4 , , 10.1

Personal life

Baguio is the nephew of the late PBA point guard

Ric-Ric Marata Ricardo "Ric-Ric" Marata (December 21, 1964 – April 17, 2010) was a Filipino former professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association. Basketball career Ric-ric played three years for Southwestern University Southwes ...

. On May 28, 2011, he married his former college crush Katie Uy in

Antipolo Antipolo, officially the City of Antipolo (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Rizal (province), Rizal, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baguio, Cyrus 1980 births Living people People from Iligan Filipino men's basketball players Basketball players from Lanao del Norte UST Growling Tigers basketball players Barako Bull Energy Boosters draft picks Barako Bull Energy Boosters players Barako Bull Energy players Barangay Ginebra San Miguel players Alaska Aces (PBA) players Phoenix Fuel Masters players Val City Magic players NLEX Road Warriors players Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars Philippines men's national basketball team players Shooting guards Small forwards 21st-century Filipino sportsmen