The Hotdogs tapped former San Jose State hotshot Marquin Chandler, 24, while the Tigers enlisted E. Washington product Alex Cacarmo, 28, for the season opener kicking off Oct. 2 at the Araneta Coliseum.
Chandler and the Hotdogs take on the Red Bull Barakos in the lone opening game. It will be Sta. Lucia versus Alaska Milk and Barangay Ginebra against Coca-Cola in the season’s first double-header on Oct. 5 also at the Big Dome. On Oct. 7, Air21 clashes with Purefoods and Talk n Text battles San Miguel Beer at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.
Cacarmo, a former Belize national player with tours of duty as import in Israel, South Korea and China, arrives today.
Both Chandler and Cacarmo are listed as 6-foot-6 forwards with separate stints with the Sacramento Kings in the NBA summer league. Cacarmo has also been with the Philadelphia Sixers’ and Boston Celtics’ camps.
Chandler suited up with the Kings in the recent Reebok Summer League in Las Vegas where the Global Hoops Summit was held during the same period with the PBA-backed national team in attendance.
The former Newark Memorial HS standout had just finished then his senior year at San Jose State, averaging 19.8 points and eight rebounds a game.
Blossoming in his senior year with the Spartans, Chandler scored in double figures in all their 29 games and easily made the All-Western Athletic Conference selection in the 2004-05 campaign. He fired at least 20 points in 13 games and had 11 double-double performances.
His 554-point total is the third best single-season in school history. Incidentally, Chandler is just the third San Jose State basketball player to be named to the All-WAC selection after Olivier Saint-Jean and Michael Quinney.
Chandler averaged only 9.8 points and 4.1 rebounds the previous season.
Cacarmo, on the other hand, is fresh from a stint with the Petah Tikya club in Israel
Meanwhile, Alex Cabagnot was to return to the country last night, ready to suit up for Sta. Lucia Realty.
Cabagnot has reportedly signed up the contract to play for the Realtors. — Nelson Beltran