Chism to boost Hotshots’ bid
Games on July 4 (MOA Arena) 4:30 p.m. – San Miguel vs Blackwater 7 p.m. – Magnolia vs NLEX
The Magnolia Hotshots hope to salvage a spot in the playoff round of the PBA Commissioner’s Cup as it tapped veteran PBA import Wayne Chism for Justin Jackson.
Chism, who has played under coach Yeng Guiao at Rain or Shine and at NLEX, brings his stuff with the Hotshots as they play make-or-break matches versus the NLEX Road Warriors on July 4 and the San Miguel Beermen on July 7.
The Hotshots are in a precarious situation with a 4-5 win-loss record heading into the last three playdates of the oneround-robin eliminations.
They actually got off to a strong start with Vernon Macklin but struggled with import subs Curtis Kelly and Jackson. Macklin had to leave to attend a commitment in the Chinese league.
While Alaska Milk, TNT KaTropa and Meralco are locked in a tight fight for the No. 2 spot (and the twice-to-beat bonus in the quarters), Magnolia is with San Miguel (5-4), Barangay Ginebra (5-5), GlobalPort (5-5), Phoenix Fuel (4-6) and Columbian Dyip (4-7) in a mad scramble for the playoff. The Hotshots need to sweep their last two games to advance.
Meanwhile, 6-7 Gilas cadet Troy Edward Rike is an option as a stretch forward along with Troy Rosario and Carl Bryan Cruz in the 15-man Gilas pool that flew to Taiwan yesterday for the Phl-Chinese Taipei rematch in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers on Friday at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.
The Fil-Am player from Wake Forest, the same school that produced Tim Duncan, is a Gilas newcomer joining 14 Gilas regulars and is being considered for the Friday match where Team Phl looks to improve the win-loss record that it’s carrying over to the second round of the WC eliminator.
He, however, wasn’t in the pool of 22 submitted to FIBA last June 11 from which the last 12 will be selected.
Rike arrived in Manila just this month, in time for the Gilas cadets’ final match in the FilOil Flying V Preseason Cup on June 4. He then worked out with those who were available in the run-up to Gilas’ departure for Taipei.
He has played four seasons with Wake Forest after playing high school ball with St. Ignatius College Prep. His Filipina mother Veronica played collegiate tennis at the University of San Francisco.
He has no outstanding numbers to show with Wake Forest, but made an impression with the Gilas coaches as a “system player.”
“He follows the system. He won’t go away from the system, which is also what we need in this team because the rest are all high-caliber,” said Gilas assistant coach Jong Uichico of Rike.