Tigers confident of Filoil Cup stint

MANILA, Philippines - After skipping the Filoil Flying V pre-season tournament the last two years, University of Santo Tomas finally joins the title hunt in a bid to sustain its strong showing in last year’s UAAP wars.

With an intact roster that made it to the UAAP Final Four last year, the Tigers are confident of their chances in the pre-season league which features the country’s top collegiate schools, including UAAP champion Ateneo and NCAA titlist San Beda.

Jeric Fortuna, Jeric Teng, Karim Abdul, Melo Afuang, Chris Camus, Kevin Ferrer remain in the mix while Clark Bautista and Aljon Mariano return to man the backcourt of the España-based squad.

“We had a good performance last season and with an intact lineup, we like our chances this year,” said UST coach Pido Jarencio in Filipino. “Little by little, we’re getting ready.”

He added that the return of Bautista and Mariano will greatly help the team, scoring-wise.

Like UST, Letran and San Sebastian College are also tipped to crowd the favorites for the crown.

The Knights, who finished third last season in the NCAA, lost two key players in Jam Cortes and Franz Dysam to graduation, but remain a formidable force on a team built around Kevin Alas.

Starting this season, Alas will be Letran’s top gun with support to come from Jonathan Belorio, VJ Espiritu, Mark Cruz and Raymond Almazan.

Coach Louie Alas, however, is hopeful that he can still lure more players to complete his personnel in time for April 14’s opener of the event presented by Bostik Phils., Inc.

“We are still conducting tryouts and we are really in need of capable players,” said the elder Alas.

The Stags, on the other hand, have lost former stalwarts Calvin Abueva and Ronald Pascual, along with team captain Anthony Del Rio, but still look tough with Ian Sangalang, Jonathan Semira, Dexter Maiquez, Jovit dela Cruz and Lyle Antipuesto backstopping the Recoletos-based team.