MANILA, Philippines - Grand slam-seeking San Mig Coffee shoots for a third win in four games against Globalport and its new import Dior Lowhorn while Alaska Milk and Air21 eye the same record in going up against each other in the PBA PLDT Home Telpad Governors Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight.
The Aces and the Express face off at 5:45 p.m. then the Mixers and the Batang Pier square off at 8 p.m. nearing the halfway mark of the short one-round-robin elimination phase.
San Mig Coffee, Alaska and Air21 will all try to tie San Miguel Beer (3-1) at second place and enhance their similar bids for the Top Four and its twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinal round.
Globalport, meanwhile, hopes to notch a second win against two losses to stay right behind the tournament leaders.
“At this point, we’re trying to stay amongst the leaders. Globalport poses some tough matchups for us with Alex Cabagnot and Jay Washington. And (Dior) Lowhorn was great when he was with Ginebra. So, we have our work cut out for us,†said San Mig Coffee coach Tim Cone.
Globalport must really be determined in its bid to contend for the playoffs that it signed up Lowhorn in place of Leroy Hickerson.
“The presence of Dior Lowhorn has put stability on our inside game, helping the team a lot in the rebounding department,†said Globalport coach Pido Jarencio.
Globalport tapped in the former Barangay Ginebra import to fill a gaping hole in the middle.
Lowhorn, a wide-bodied 6-foot-4 center/forward, hooks up with the Batang Pier in time for an expected tough grind versus Marqus Blakely and the Mixers.
Stats-wise, Hickerson didn’t do bad as he put in averages of 25 points, 9.67 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.3 steals in three games.
However, the Batang Pier have deficiencies that the coaching staff deemed Hickerson may not cover, being more of a two or three guy.
Globalport found the need to beef up its frontline with young center Yousef Taha getting injured.
But would Lowhorn really be the import the Batang Pier were looking for?
In his initial tour of duty in the local pro loop, the former Texas Tech and San Francisco U mainstay got the Ginebra Kings only to as far as the quarterfinals in the same conference last year. He ended up his Ginebra stint with only four wins against seven losses.