Sharpened Blades gun for third win vs Patriots

After two consecutive pulsating victories, LBC Batangas could be in for its first blowout of the season.

Armed with the confidence following wins over tough teams San Juan (84-81) and Fedex Laguna (94-90), the Blades tackle a lighter foe in the Nueva Ecija Patriots today for a share of the lead with the Negros Slashers in the first phase of the 2001 MBA season at the San Juan Coliseum.

Nash Racela, Batangas’ youthful coach, has been outwitting counterparts Philip Cezar of San Juan and Boni Garcia of Laguna with those key wins and is expected to do the same today versus Nueva Ecija mentor Jojo Villa.

But Racela will have a talented bunch composed of former Manila standouts Alex Compton, the first recipient of the MBA Press Corps’ Player-of-the-Week award, Romel Adducul and Peter Martin and the old team’s remnants, Stephen Antonio, Tony Boy Espinosa, Jeff Sanders and Eddie Laure to complement his style.

The Patriots, on the other hand, acquired some players mostly from teams which disbanded following the league’s "rightsizing" policy of cutting the member teams from 15 to just eight but has yet to jell in time.

While it got some role players, the new acquisitions clearly could not fill the vacuum left by Willy Miller, who is now with PBA, as seen in the Patriots’ humiliating 71-110 loss to the Knights a week ago.

Meantime, host Andok’s San Juan squares off with Fedex Laguna in the featured match at 5:30 p.m.

The Knights gun for their second win in three matches following their rout of the Patriots while the Lakers are seeking for their first triumph after bungling what could have been a win versus the Blades in their debut.