Win over PBA imports boosts RP five morale

A feel-good win over the PBA imports hopefully could serve as a big boost for SMC-Philippine team as the Nationals leave the country Friday morning for Tehran, Iran to vie for the FIBA-Asia Champions’ Cup.

The Nationals showed quickness and superb outside shooting to beat the PBA imports, 103-100, in an exhibition match last night at the Araneta Coliseum.

Danny Seigle, Mark Caguioa and Dondon Hontiveros produced big outputs from the outside before Jimmy Alapag and Mick Pennisi came through with crucial plays in the closing seconds to give the Nationals an inspiring send-off party for Iran.

"It will surely help build our confidence to know we can compete with anybody. To me that’s the victory we gained in this contest," said RP team coach Chot Reyes.

"I appealed to the imports to make it like our first game in the Asian Champions Cup and ‘‚m thankful they responded. They gave us a tough battle," Reyes added.

The imports blew three chances to force a tie in the end on missed three-pointers by Marquin Chandler, Rossel Ellis and Galen Young in the last 12 seconds.

To Reyes, the all-import team resembled the Qatar team which will be among their tough rivals in the FIBA-Asia Olympic qualifying tourney in July in Tokushima, Japan.

Reyes said it‚s a learning experience which exposed things that the team should still work on

"We lack the competitive sharpness since we‚re lacking competitive games. We still have to work on our defense," said Reyes.

But overall, the national mentor was pleased with how they performed against the PBA imports.

"The most satisfying part is seeing the boys enjoy playing together. They cheered for one another. There were big names on the bench cheering their teammates on the court," said Reyes.

Meanwhle, Air21 and Red Bull take on separate opponents today looking for a win that will keep them close with the pacesetting Barangay Ginebra side nearing the homestretch of the Talk n Text PBA Fiesta Cup double-round-robin eliminations.

The Express and the Bulls are expected to come back strong in their games against the Coca-Cola Tigers and the Sta. Lucia Realtors, respectively, at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Express and the Tigers clash at 4:35 p.m. then the Bulls and the Realtors collide at 7:20 p.m.

Meanwhile, defending champion Welcoat-Makati aims for a second straight win when it battles Talk n Text-Quezon City 2 in the Burlington-PBA Basketball League.

The Batang Welcoat Dragons, 71-32 winner over the Batang San Miguel Beermen-Caloocan Sunday, face the Batang TnT at 1 p.m. following the 11 a.m. encounter between debuting Coca-Cola-HRCSD and Red Bull-San Juan.

Air21 and Red Bull slid to joint second place with Alaska Milk as the Express were walloped by the Kings, 115-136, Saturday while the Bulls lost their lost two games to the Talk n Text Phone Pals and the Purefoods Giants by an average margin of 20.5 points.

The Bulls have a job cut out for them against the Realtors with Junthy Valenzuela serving the first of his two-game suspension and import James Penny battling a back injury.

Penny sat out the RP team-PBA imports exhibition duel last night at the Araneta Coliseum.

The Tigers and the Realtors are more in need of a victory with the two teams in the lower half of the chart.

Coca-Cola is tied with San Miguel Beer at sixth place on their identical 5-7 win-loss cards while Sta. Lucia holds a 3-8 slate, just a game and a half ahead of cellar-dweller Welcoat (2-10). The last placer after the double-round elims will be the only team to miss the playoffs.