Tribu Sugbu vs Tagaytay in NBC tonite

The Tribu Sugbu-Arthro will play host to the Tagaytay Spring tonight in the 2006 Spring Cooking Oil-National Basketball Conference (NBC) National Cup (2nd Conference) at the Talisay City gym.

Gametime is set at 9 pm.

Hoping to bring back the glory days of Tribu Sugbu after winning the national crown in the 2004 inaugural season, coach Al Solis said they must go for the win tonight in their debut of the 2006 season.

Tribu Sugbu is not feeling the pressure infront of the hometown crowd because it is expected that the Cebuanos will rally behind them and despite the short time of forming the team, Solis said his team is ready for tonight's war against Tagaytay, which debuted with a win over strong contender Valencia-Bukidnon Golden Harvest.

Led by PBL star Joseph Ronald Quiñahan, Tribu-Arthro will also parade some of the finest commercial players in Cebu who are also veterans in many hardcourt battles, including former FEU 6-9 behemoth Don Yabut, Nyok de Guzman, Jerome Gadiani and Quiñahan's former UV teammates Randy Sevilla, Ronaldo Bucao and 2005 CESAFI MVP Mark Ababon.

The other Tribu Sugbu players are Marvin Mercado, Gaylord Santos, former UC stars Alex Cainglet and Doroteo Almacin and some re-enforcement from the Athletes for Christ in Excellent Service (ACES), an association of Born Again Christians namely JRoss Ceniza, TJ Caparros, Enteng Ramoneda and Fritzie Gonzales.

The visiting Tagaytay Springs, on the other hand, will be manned by former Hapee Rodel Mallari and Danny Capobres, former Gen Feeds Gilbert Neo, PBL veteran Nani Epondulan, Mar Reyes, Marvin Guiyab, Aldrin Morante, Bambi Barnson and Jeff Cuenca.

A total of 10 teams- five each from the North and South, are seeing action in the NBC National Cup this season.

The Northern teams are Bacchus Energy Drink, Cellular Pawnshop-Bulacan, Forward Taguig, Osmeña-Cebu (John O) and Tagaytay.

Teams from the South are back-to-back champion Ozamiz Cotta, Tribu Sugbu-Arthro, Pagadian Explorers, North Cotabato Braves and Valencia-Bukidnon.

Tribu Sugbu's first road game will be on September 29 against Valencia and the following day, September 30, they will visit North Cotabato.

The playoffs will start on November 28.