Barako bullish, eyes piece of lead

MANILA, Philippines - Barako Bull hopes to make it two in a row with its re-tooled crew as it shoots for an early share of the lead against Petron Blaze in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight.

Barako’s offseason buildup reaped initial fruits with the Energy Cola outlasting the Air21 Express, 90-87, in a furious battle last Wednesday.

The Boosters, with their own offseason moves, failed to produce the same positive result in their season debut, yielding to the smooth-playing Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, 86-102.

Old hand Ronald Tubid top scored with 18 points while Barako new recruits Sean Anthony, Doug Kramer and Rico Villanueva made significant contributions as the Energy Cola got off on the right foot in the season-opening tourney.

Barako coach Junel Baculi, however, said it’s obvious there’s still much to be desired in their game, and he’s hoping they improve in time for their game against the formidable Petron Blaze squad.

The Energy Cola and the Boosters play at 7:30 p.m. after the 5:15 p.m. tussle between the Alaska Milk Aces and the Meralco Bolts.

“We’ve got a lot of new faces, so we have to build up chemistry as soon as possible,” said Baculi.

Unfamiliarity showed in the way the Energy Cola committed 25 turnovers, nine of them by Anthony whom they acquired in a trade with Globalport on Draft day last Aug. 19. Still the scrappy forward was of big help with 18 points and nine rebounds.

Under new coaches and with new recruits that include top pick Junmar Fajardo, the Boosters struggled even more in their debut.

“As I said before the game, this is the best time to play Petron when they’re still in transition, learning the new system under a new coach. They will be very dangerous in three to four games,” said Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao.

To some observers, part of Petron’s problem could be confusion on the coaching setup.

“Masama bang tignan?” was all coach Olsen Racela – smiling – could say on the coaching chores he shares with consultant Rajko Toroman.

Alaska Milk and Meralco also seek to rebound from a losing debut as they square off in the day’s other game.

“Preseason is very different from the season. We like the direction the team is going but there’s still a lot of work to do,” said Alaska coach Luigi Trillo.

“The goal is to play good basketball from the opening tip to the final buzzer. Against Talk n Text, we only played good ball in the last eight minutes when we’re already down by 21. Still, we competed, forged an OT but could not finish the hat trick,” said Meralco coach Ryan Gregorio.

“Obviously, we have the ability to bounce back. Our retooled offensive arsenal was present en rout to a 110-point performance. The two challenges that we want to scale against Alaska are score in the 100s and limit them to the 90s,” Gregorio added.