Mark, Willie lead North against James and South

THE explosive Ginebra backcourt tandem of Mark Caguioa and Willie Miller leads the North team against James Yap and the South squad when the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) unveils the 2011 edition of the annual All-Star game next month in the scenic island of Boracay.

Caguioa and Miller accumulated the most number of fan votes among guards from Luzon with 17,037 and 9,603, respectively, in earning the starting guard spots
for the North.

But it was James Yap, as expected, who emerged the runaway fan favorite, receiving the most number of votes among this year’s All-Stars with 31,437.

The Derby Ace top gunner gets to share stellar billing with high-flyer Cyrus Baguio of Alaska, who nosed out Talk `N Text’s Jimmy Alapag for the other backcourt spot by earning 18,342 votes. Alapag got 16,785.

Voting for the May 18-23 mid-season spectacle dubbed ‘Hala Bola Boracay 2011 All Star Weekend’ ended last April 10.

Joining Caguioa and Miller in the starting unit of the North are llamados frontcourt tandem Mark Pingris (22,041) and Kerby Raymundo (15,381), with Rain or Shine’s Gabe Norwood, last year’s All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, filling up the last North starting spot with 12,744 votes.

Starting up front for the South are Barangay Ginebra’s Eric Menk, who garnered 23,571 votes, San Miguel’s Jay Washington (23,571) and Kelly Williams of Talk `N Text (20,439).

Talk `N Text’s Chot Reyes and Ato Agustin of San Miguel will call the shots for the South and North squads, respectively, after guiding their teams into the Philippine Cup Finals.

The South All Stars are raring to get back against their North counterparts after losing last year’s All-Star game by the skin of their teeth, 133-132, in Puerto Princesa City.PR

RP wins

RP VS. KAZAKHSTAN GAME STORY


Team Standings
KOREA 2 0
JORDAN 2 0
TAIWAN-A 2 0
IRAN 1 0
LEBANON 2 1
RP 1 2
JAPAN 0 2
KAZAKHSTAN 0 3
TAIWAN-B 0 2

Games Tuesday
1 p.m. – Kazakhstan vs. Lebanon
3 p.m. – Japan vs. RP
5 p.m. – Taiwan-B vs. Iran
7 p.m. – Jordan vs. Taiwan-A


TAIPEI – Stripped bare by Jordan and pushed to the brink by Taiwan in its first two outings, Powerade-Team Pilipinas rebounded with vengeful resolve Monday, blasting Kazakhstan, 85-67, in the 31st William Jones Cup tournament at the Hsinchuang gym.

The victory restored a measure of respect for the Nationals who suffered one of their worst beatings at the hands of the defending champion Jordanians – a 31-point loss Saturday – and a heartbreaker to host Taiwan Sunday.

Willie Miller, stepping up at the point guard spot while Jayjay Helterbrand feels his way back from a hamstring pull, led the RP team with 13 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Ranidel de Ocampo, 5 of 6 from the floor, added 11 points, along with 6-foot-10 Japeth Aguilar, who punctuated the breakout win with a number of rim-bending dunks.

“We’re just happy to win,” said national coach Yeng Guiao. “The important thing is we’re improving everyday, and we hope to get better in the next few games.”

The Philippines takes on long-time Asian rival Japan at 3 p.m. Tuesday in a battle of teams bracketed in Group A of the 25th FIBA Asia Men’s Championship in Tianjin, China next month.

“Am I happy? Not totally because we lost our first two games in a bad way,” Guiao said. “But the prospects are good. Ang importante, me laban tayo sa Japan at Korea. We’ll focus on that first.”

After Lebanon on Wednesday, the Nationals face South Korea, which barely scraped past Kazakhstan, 75-73, in the opener.

Helterbrand returned after sitting out the first two games, putting aside tenseness in his left thigh in contributing seven points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal in 17 minutes.

“It feels good to be back trying to help my RP teammates,” said Helterbrand, his thigh wrapped in an icepack.

Oleg Kiselev, one of the Kazakhstan coaches, complimented the RP team’s aggressive running game and second half zone defense.

“They showed fantastic basketball. We couldn’t handle their fast break game,” Kiselev said through an interpreter. “We also struggled against their zone and we couldn’t fight till the end of the game.”

The Kazakhs are bringing with them to the Tianjin tournament three additional players – two big men and a point guard – and could face the Philippines again if both of them reach the quarterfinal round.

No Philippine team has beaten Kazakhstan dating back to the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games where it lost to Tim Cone’s RP-Centennial squad.

The Kazakhs beat out the Nationals for third place in the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, a game the RP team went through will little emotion after losing to South Korea in the semifinal on a buzzer-beating 3-point shot by Lee Sang-Min.

A far cry from the nature of their first two starts, the Nationals came out blazing, opening a 22-12 lead in the first quarter on the way to several 20-point spreads, the last on a De Ocampo fast break layup, 78-58, with four minutes left.

In an earlier game, defending champion Jordan double-teamed the prolific Fadih El-Khatib throughout in a 73-63 victory over Lebanon for its second straight win.

After scoring an average 32.5 points in their first two wins, the veteran Lebanese forward was held down to 14 points on 5 of 14 shooting.


Scores:
POWERADE-RP 85 – Miller 13, Aguilar 11, De Ocampo 11, Yap 9, Thoss 8, Norwood 7, Helterbrand 7, Baguio 6, Raymundo 6, Santos 5, Dillinger 2, Taulava 0.

KAZAKHSTAN 67 – Dmitriy 23, Alexandr 16, Rustam 12, Vselovod 12, Ivan 2, Roman 2, Ilya 0, Voyeikov 0.

Quarters: 22-12, 45-36, 67-53, 85-67