LIGA ELIMS RESUME IN MANDAUE

Games Today (October 14) – Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Center

4:00 PM Forward Taguig vs. Zamboanga Uno Latinos

6:00 PM Cebu Landmaster-Mandaue vs. Quezon Red Oilers



MANDAUE CITY – Expansion team Cebu Landmaster-Mandaue takes its first crack at hosting a leg as they welcome Forward Taguig, Quezon Red Oilers and Zamboanga Uno Latinos to the Mandaue City Cultural and Sports Center for the resumption of the Smart Liga Pilipinas Conference III elimination phase today.



The hosts will go all out in the main game versus the Red Oilers starting at 6:00 PM. The 4:00 PM opener will pit Taguig against the unpredictable Latinos.



Mandaue is coming off a long break after taking Third Place in the Misamis Oriental Leg that ended last September 12 and is primed to make a move on the league leaderboard with three weeks left in the tour elims.



The team of businessman Joe Soberano has eight Liga Pilipinas Tour Points with two legs to play to share Seventh and Eighth Place with the MP Warriors of GenSan who already completed their four-leg schedule two weeks ago. The Red Oilers of Gov. Raffy Nantes and Coach Oliver Bunyi have 23 points, good for a tie at Fourth and Fifth Place with the idle Trace-Laguna Stallions.



To bolster their chances of catching up with the league leaders, Mandaue has added guard Boyet Bautista and forward JR Aquino to the roster that already boasts of shooters Jercules Tangkay, Jerome Cenita and Jett Latonio, guards John Paul Alcaraz, Alex Cainglet and Ronald Bucao, and frontliners Enrico Llanto, Rino Berame, Danny Aying, Mannie Gabas, Francis Mercado and Joel Solis.



Quezon is coming off an inspiring sweep of the General Santos City Leg last September 26. Coach Bunyi will rely heavily on GenSan Leg MVP Angelus Raymundo, guard Roberts Labagala and Ramsey Williams and forwards Luis Palaganas, Jonathan Pinera and Jorel Canizares.



Taguig, runners-up two weeks ago in the Laguna Leg, hope to duplicate their 83-70 beating of the Uno Latinos last August 27 at the C. P. Tinga Memorial Hall. Meanwhile, Zamboanga surprised a lot of pundits by taking Third Place in their last assignment in the GenSan Leg despite fielding a six-man roster.



Zamboanga, though currently out of the playoff picture with four points at Ninth Place, has a good chance to move past the MP Warriors for the eighth and last playoff berth with a good showing. Taguig is in solo Third Place with 25 points and is aiming for a shot for one of two automatic spots in November’s Super Leg that will crown the next National Champion of the league supported by Smart, Accel, Molten, Calcium-Cee, Gatorade, Air 21 and Burlington and sanctioned by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP).



The undefeated M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu Ninos (45 points) and defending National Champion Misamis Oriental Meteors (26 points) continue to hold the top two positions in the standings. Both pacesetters have drawn a bye this week.



Quezon and Taguig will end their four-leg schedule this week. Mandaue is set to play its fourth leg in Apayao next week while Zamboanga will take its turn to host the final leg of the Tour Phase the week thereafter.



Selected games from the Mandaue City Leg will be shown over Solar Sports from Wednesday to Saturday of next week. Liga Pilipinas Classics air daily on Viva Prime Channel. The league’s official website is at www.ligapilipinas.net.