Kings enlist Sloan to boost semis bid

MANILA, Philippines - Former Texas A&M star guard Donald Sloan arrives this morning to be Barangay Ginebra’s new import, taking over from Curtis Stinson who’s out with an injured right knee.

The Kings have won two games playing without an import, and they could only get better as Sloan joins them in their game versus the Alaska Milk Aces Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.

A win in their last two games assured the Kings of an outright seat in the PBA Governors Cup semifinal round. After their Saturday match with the Aces, the Kings take on the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters on July 20 to close out their elimination-round assignments.

Petron Blaze nailed the first slot in the semifinals as the Boosters also bucked playing without an import Saturday, stunning the Talk n Text Tropang Texters, 101-96.

The Petron coaching staff is reportedly looking at Myron Allen or Anthony Grundy as the possible sub for Jeremy Jones, who’s likewise hurt with an injury.

The Kings nipped the Express, 89-87, Friday then pulled the rug from under the B-Meg Llamados, 89-85, Sunday to gain a piece of second place with the Elasto Painters and the Texters at 4-2.

Mark Caguioa played the import’s role in both games and thus gained the Accel Player of the Week honors.

Sloan, at 23 a young player with good credentials, could be a good replacement to Stinson.

He helped Texas A&M reach the US NCAA tourney in all his four years in the reputable school, earning First Team All-Big 12 honors in 2010.

He finished his collegiate career ranked seventh in Aggie history in scoring with 1.522 points and eighth in assists with 370, then played for the Sacramento Kings in the 2010 NBA Summer League.

Signed to a one-year non-guaranteed contract then waived before the start of the season, Sloan drifted with the NBA D-League playing for the Reno Bighorns.

In his final year at Texas A&M, Sloan emerged as leading scorer with a career high 29 points.

The previous year, he led the team with 108 assists aside from averaging 11.8 points and 3.6 rebounds.

Sloan attended Seagoville High School, leading the team to regional championship as a senior. He received two-time all-state recognition and was the 17th ranked 200 prospect in Texas by Rivals.com.