Phoenix finally rises; San Miguel downs Star
‘Luck of draw’ vital for PH pugs’ Rio bid
Doubly sweet. Mighty Sports Apparels made its international debut more memorable as it clobbered Taiwan-B, 104-84, to complete an 8-game sweep of the 38th William Jones Cup yesterday at Xinzhuang gym in New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Taking no chances, the Mighty Sports dribblers came out like a raging bull chasing at a matador’s small red cape as they produced a flurry of baskets that gave them a 30-16 cushion at the end of the first quarter.
They practically sealed the win with still a quarter left after surging to a commanding 67-37 advantage to the delight of the small Filipino crowd, including Manila visitors of the club.
Good thing, homegrown players of the club also delivered with Leo
Games Wednesday (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 4:15 p.m. – NLEX vs TNT 7 p.m. – Alaska vs Mahindra
No wonder new Phoenix import Eugene Phelps was called “El Destructor” during a stint in the Caribbean. Taking the spot of Marcus Simmons, Phelps scored 52 points in his debut as the Fuel Masters ended a 0-3 start with a 120-107 win over the Globalport Batang Pier last night in the PBA Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The 26-year-old Phelps, who earned the nickname when he played in Puerto Rico, dominated the shaded lane on his way to making 18-of-30 shots and 15-of-21 free throws while adding 16 rebounds and six assists as Phoenix won after starting the conference with three straight losses.
He conspired with John Wilson, Mick Pennisi, and rookie Simon Enciso in a 22-10 windup that came after Phoenix held a slim 98-97 lead with seven minutes left to play.
Phelps, playing despite sustaining a busted lip early in the third quarter from an inadvertent elbow by Globalport import Michael Glover, completed a three-point play during that run that gave him the first 50-point game of his career in any league.
Asked if he expected such debut, the former Long Beach State stalwart, whose hairdo was described as “pineapple” by his former teammates in Puerto Rico, said it’s all about helping the team climb out of the cellar.
“Not really,” said the 6-foot-5 Phelps, whose previous high was a 42point game in Mexico. “But I felt it a little bit early when I scored 19 in the
Miguel Tabuena is now ready for Rio Olympics.
The reigning Philippine Open champion produced a solid windup to his final preparation for the quadrennial event by finishing tied for 10th overall in the King’s Cup at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club in Pattaya, Thailand.
He closed out with a 2-under 68 in a round that featured four birdies, including three on the back nine, Avenido and Sunday Salvacion hitting big baskets that helped them pull away early.
The title win was the country’s fifth – second best in the annual tournament considered as the toughest in the region. United States is the winningest in the tournament with 15 titles while Iran has also five titles.
With seven grizzled imports – two injured – Mighty Sports was simply unstoppable.
They were ruthless that they posted an impressive winning average of 17.4 points as they mirrored the amazing feat of the Ron Jacobs-mentored Northern Consolidated Cement team in 1981
Mighty also became the third club team from the country to win the event as San Miguel Beer also topped the first quarter. My teammates kept on giving me the ball and it happened.”
Statistics aside, Phelps is glad to hand the Fuel Masters a victory, the first in the coaching career of newlyinstalled mentor Ariel Vanguardia.
“We got this win, and hopefully we can build with it,” said Phelps, whose explosion was the highest for a debuting import since Purefoods’ Darius Rice fired 56 in the 2008 Fiesta Conference.
Vanguardia took the blame on not bringing Phelps much earlier as they opted to give Simmons a change. Besides, he added that the team was waiting for DeAndre Liggins to join until he was signed by the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers.
In the second game, defending champion San Miguel Beer survived a searing rally by Star to hack out a 109-100 win.
Former two-time Best Import winner AZ Reid finished in doubledouble after posting 34 points and 11 assists, while reigning two-time MVP June Mar Fajardo had 28 points and 13 rebounds for SMB, which improved to 3-1.
Star, which got 20 points from James Yap, dropped to 1-3.
Phelps 52, Lee 16, J. Wilson 15, W. Wilson 10, Baguio 9, Enciso 6, Pennisi 5, Lanete 4, Cruz 3, Buenafe 0, Caperal 0, Torres 0.
Glover 27, Pringle 27, Romeo 20, Yeo 14, Washington 13, Dehesa 4, Mamaril 2, Isip 0, Kramer 0, Semerad 0, Taha 0.
Quarters: 33-26; 58-53; 86-85; 120-107.
Reid 34, Fajardo 28, Cabagnot 21, Ross 14, Lassiter 7, De Ocampo 3, Tubid 2, Arana 0, David 0, Reyes 0.
Yap 20, Blakely 15, Garcia 14, Melton 14, Barroca 11, Simon 10, Pingris 6, Mallari 4, Reavis 4, Maliksi 2, Pascual 0, Sangalang 0.
Quarters: 32-20, 56-39, 83-70, 109-100 that more than made up for his two bogeys on his way to completing a four-day aggregate of 274, six shots behind winner Chan Shih-Chang of Taiwan.
The top 10 finish should boost the confidence of the 21-year-old as he heads to Rio to join the Philippine contingent in its preparation for the world’s biggest sporting event.
Tabuena is the lone Philippine representative to the first Olympic golf event in 1985.
With the locals also stepping up, Mighty Sports hardly missed the absence of Troy Gillenwater and Zach Graham due to injuries.
“It’s a great honor for the club. We’d never thought we would have this opportunity to represent the country. We’re a small club team, and it’s a great honor to represent and win for the country,” said Mighty Sports assistant coach Charles Tiu.
Next for Mighty Sports is the Merlion Cup in Singapore and hopefully the PBA D-League.
“We’re first joining the Merlion Cup in Singapore in September. Then we’ll take a look at our options. We also have an offer to join the ABL (Asean Basketball League),” said Tiu.
Aside from Avenido and Salvacion, competition since the 1904 Games in St. Louis, Missouri, after Angelo Que pulled out several weeks ago over concerns of the dreaded Zika virus.
On Saturday, Tabuena produced four birdies but made three bogeys for a third round 69. – Jonas Terrado also shining for the team’s onslaught in the first half were Jason Brickman, Larry Rodriguez, TY Tang and Jeric Teng.
Dewarick Spencer top scored for the team for the fifth time with 27 points aside from posting nine points, three steals and two assists.
With his consistent performance, the Korean league veteran might even win the MVP trophy which will be given at the close of the event late last night.
– REY C. LACHICA Spencer 27, Singletary 21, Thornton 13, N’Diaye 12, Macklin 10, Brickman 8, Salvacion 6, Avenido 5, Rodriguez 2, Teng 0, Tang 0, Ferrer 0. Chien 18, Florveus 16, Lin 9, Wu 7, Lin PW 5, Huang 4, Yang 4, Lin 4, Lee 2, Chien 0, Sie 0, Chou 0. Quarters: 30-16, 54-33, 87-61, 104-80.
RIO DE JANEIRO — The Filipino boxers in this Rio Olympics will still have to rely on the luck of the draw if they are to achieve their goal of giving the country its first medal in 20 years.
No Filipino athlete has brought home a medal from the Olympics since Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco took the silver in the light-flyweight class of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Many thought that Velasco did enough to win the gold against Bulgaria’s Daniel Petrov Bujilov. The bout was scored 19-6 when it was closer inside the ring.
Boxing competitions here in Rio de Jaineiro will run from Aug. 6 to Aug. 21. Medals will be at stake in 10 weight divisions for men and three for women.
The Philippines only has two boxers competing here in Rio.
Light flyweight Rogen Ladon and lightweight Charly Squarez, first-time Olympians, will get the chance to end the medal drought for the Philippines.
Ladon and Suarez will see action on Aug. 6 but are still awaiting the results of the draw days before the start of the competition.
Head coach Nolito Velasco presided over a light training session for the two Filipino boxers Saturday afternoon at Pavilion 5 of the Riocenter Convention Center.
It was a light session compared to the normal grind these boxers go through, kicking it off with a couple of rounds of shadow boxing and sparring and a few more on the bags.
The two boxers cooled down by running back to the Athletes Village which is less than a kilometer away from the training venue. SWIMMER OUT TO IMPROVE
There’s a big room for improvement for Filipina swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi when she competes for the second
Dennis Orcollo, Antonio “Gaga” Gabica, and Lee Van Corteza led the march of seven Filipinos who won their opening matches in the World 9-Ball Championship Saturday at the Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.
Orcollo downed Abdullah Mohd Karmastaji of the United Arab Emirates, 9-5; Gabica (representing the host nation) beat Mohammad Al Ghumayz of Saudi Arabia, 9-7; and Corteza beat Salah Eldeen Al Remawi of UAE, 9-5.
Warren Kiamco trounced Omran Salem of UAE, 9-5; Jeffrey de Luna prevailed over Wang Can of China, 9-6; Ramil Gallego trounced Imran Majid of Britain, 9-6; Jeffrey Ignacio beat Karol Slowerski of Poland, 9-4; and Johann Chua edged Francis Crevier of Canada, 9-8. time in the quadrennial event.
In 2012 in London, the tall and lovely swimmer finished 34th among 50 participants with a time of 57.13 seconds in the 100-m freestyle. She is doing much better now.
Alkhaldi is coming here with a best time of 55.94 in the same event. Now, she can look forward to a better finish than her Olympic debut four years ago.
“Of course, the goal is to improve from the first time I competed in the Olympics,” said the 23-year-old Alkhaldi inside the Athletes Village here.
“I trained a hundred percent harder than before,” she said.
Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands won the 100m freestyle in London in 2012 with a time of 53 seconds flat. She also took the gold in the 50m free with a time of 24.05 seconds.
Since arriving from Hawaii three days ago with her coach Jennifer Bufin, Alkhaldi has frequented the training venue with her fellow competitor from the Philippines.
Jessie Khing Lacuna is also in his second straight Olympics. He will vie in the men’s 400-m freestyle on Aug. 6.
Francisco Felicilda, who is also representing Qatar, defeated Marco Teutscher of The Netherlands, 9-7; while unheralded Rogelio Sotero Jr. beat Do Hoang Quan of Vietnam, 9-6, as the Pinoys moved a win shy of advancing to the knockout stage of the annual pool competition.
Suffering a stunning loss on opening day was Carlo Biado, who fell 9-6 to Roman Hybler of the Czech Republic. Biado will now have to win two matches in order to join the knockout stage.
The Filipinos are eyeing an end to the country’s long drought in what was once considered as the sport’s most prestigious competition.
The last time a Filipino won the event was in 2010 when Francisco “Django” Bustamante beat Taiwan’s Kuo Po-cheng in the first 9-ball event held in the oil-rich nation.