Aquastars host Turbos tonight in MVBA hoopla

The Talisay City Aquastars will try to get back into the winning track when they defend their fort against the revitalized Toyota-Iloilo Turbos tonight in the ML Kwarta Padala Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) Second Conference at the Talisay City Sports Complex.

Game time is set at 6:00 pm. The Aquastars are currently tied with Cebu Landmaster-Mantawi at second place in the Visayas Division standings with similar 1-2 win-loss records. Their lone win against Mantawi sandwiched their back-to-back defeats to M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu.

Head coach and MLSDF executive director Eddie Ybañez will once again tap the services of Bruce Dacia, Leo Bat-og and Jessie Lumantas to spearhead Talisay's offensive charge together with the prolific tandem of 6-foot-7 Rino Berami and Morsie Akad.

Others expected to show the way for the Aquastars include Arnel Lozano, Kim Calo, Jared Kane Abatayo and Jheysar Esperat.

On paper, the Aquastars are heavily favored over the Ilongo visitors. But they must not take their opponents lightly because Toyota-Iloilo is a relatively new team making its MVBA debut on the road.

Also, several changes had been infused in the team lately.

First and foremost, the team owned by Robert Uy adopted a new nickname in Turbos to replace Warriors, followed by the hiring of a new coach in former assistant Jerry Jaranilla, who replaced the now United States-based John Trompeta.

Only six players from the previous conference are set to return to Iloilo's fold led by the high-scoring guard tandem of Eldrin Senierez and Elben Leonida. They will be backstopped by big men Ruel Balgos, Henry Sencil and Paul Poral and wingman Loreto Bautista.

Leading the pack of nine newcomers is guard Richielen Teneso, who briefly played for Adamson in the UAAP.

Completing the Turbos' roster is a mix of Iloilo varsity standouts no older than 25 years of age in Ramir Aquino, Nicolas Billones, Adrian Delaban, Mark Favela, Mark Hubalde, Matthew Montalbo, Armar Talimay and Alfie Villaruel.

The Turbos' youth-laden crew hopes to make their mark in the community-based league made possible by ML Kwarta Padala, Nature's Spring Drinking Water, Cokaliong Shipping Lines, Reva Sandals, Gameface.Ph and Nike Basketball.

After tonight's game, the Turbos will visit the Cebu Landmaster-Mantawi of Joe Soberano and Coach Jun Tan tomorrow at the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Complex. They will end their Metro Cebu swing with a game against M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu of Michel Lhuillier and Coach Raul "Yayoy" Alcoseba on Tuesday at the Cebu Coliseum.