Fil-Am Greg Slaughter gets the chance to show his stuff in the Big City as University of Visayas battles Lyceum for the last quarterfinal berth in the Fil-Oil/Flying-V National Collegiate Champions League (CCL) at The Arena in San Juan today.
The 6-foot-9 Slaughter, billed as the next big thing for RP basketball, has been training under former four-time PBA MVP Ramon Fernandez in Cebu since arriving from the US five months ago.
His intimidating presence is expected to further boost the bid of the Lancers, the seven-time champion of the Cebu Athletic School Foundation Inc. (CESSAFI), against the Pirates.
“He’s a good defender. And the good thing about Greg is that he also improved his shooting. He has a nice soft touch from outside,” said UV coach Boy Cabahug.
Gametime is at 12 noon.
The Lancers, then led by 6-foot-6 JR Quinahan, hope to surpass their second place finish in the inaugural of the CCL four years ago behind champion University of the East.
The Intramuros-based Lyceum, mentored by coach Boni Tan, is a wildcard entry in the tournament which gathers the country’s top colleges and universities.
The winner between the Lancers and the Pirates will face Davao representative University of Mindanao (UM) Wildcats in the quarterfinal round Monday, also at The Arena.
NCAA back-to-back champion and last year’s second placer San Beda College tackles University of Santo Tomas also on Monday.
On Wednesday, NAASCU titlist STI College goes up against Far Eastern University, while Ateneo takes on last year’s third placer Jose Rizal University.
The winner of the annual event, now on its fifth year, will receive P500,000 worth of scholarships. The next three finishers will get P200,000, P100,000 and P50,000, respectively.