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SAN MIG
Coffee takes its turn at halting the rampaging Harbour
Centre as they collide in the main game of the 2008
Philippine Basketball League (PBL) Lipovitan Amino
Sports Cup Thursday at The Arena in San Juan.
Both
teams enter the game with winning streaks, but the
Coffee Kings are up to a tough challenge when they try
to end Batang Pier’s 10-game run. They collide at 4 p.m.
In the
first game, Burger King seeks to fan its own streak when
it faces Noosa Shoes at 2 p.m.
Harbour
Centre is in the semifinals after it beat Toyota Otis on
Tuesday, 99-92. A victory Thursday would not only give
Harbour Centre the No. 1 seed in the semifinals, but
also the privilege to choose its opponent from the two
quarterfinals topnotchers.
San Mig
Coffee has won its last three games and stands as the
only team, besides Hapee Toothpaste (8-4), which could
catch Batang Pier at the top of the standings.
“It will
be a tall order for us. Harbour Centre is a very
talented team and we have to bring our best game against
them,” said Coffee Kings head coach Koy Banal, whose
wards are toting a 5-5 slate for solo fourth place.
“And we
need to stay humble. Having 3-0, this little success
might get into our heads. We must continue doing little
things with consistency,” said Banal.
San Mig
Coffee is coming off an 80-73 win over the Shoe Stars,
with Eder Saldua finally coming out of a slump to give
Banal and the Coffee Kings a big lift.
Harbour
Centre head coach Jorge Gallent also wants his players
not to put that 10-0 mark in their heads.
“We
still want to treat it one game at a time. The things
that we did in our first 10 games, we should do the same
in the last five games,” said Gallent.
The
guards are playing big for Batang Pier, led by two-time
Most Valuable Player Jason Castro, TY Tang, Al Vergara,
Jonathan Fernandez and Filipino-American Solomon
Mercado.
Banal
hopes Bonbon Custodio could finally recover from a
scoring slump to help ex-pro Neil Raneses and Saldua on
offense.
The
Whoppers of coach Allan Gregorio, meanwhile, are eyeing
a serious run for a quarterfinal seat when they face
Noosa, which is coming off a huge 80-73 win over Pharex
recently.
“Hopefully, we can move on after finally getting a win,”
said Gregorio as they finally ended a four-game losing
streak with a 60-48 victory over Bacchus Energy Drink on
Tuesday.
The Shoe
Stars of coach Leo Isaac are currently tied with the
Medics with a 5-6 card and are facing a daunting task of
winning their remaining games to avoid elimination.
Standings: Harbour 10 -0; Hapee 8-4; Burger King 6-6;
San Mig Coffee 5-5; Noosa Shoes 5-6; Pharex 5-6; Toyota
Otis 5-7; Bacchus 4-8; Nokia RP Youth 0-6. |
