M. Lhuillier begins hunt for MVBA Sinulog 3-peat

The Mindanao Visayas Basketball Association (MVBA) kicks off its 2008 calendar with the opening of the ML Kwarta Padala Sinulog Cup Sunday afternoon at the New Cebu Coliseum. Defending champion M. Lhuillier Kwarta Padala-Cebu City begins its quest for a Sinulog three-peat, taking the floor in the opening game at 4:30 p.m. against the Toyota-Balintawak Road Kings that will immediately be followed by the clash between the Pharex Medics and Fifth Avenue Telecoms in the main offering at 6 p.m., the league said on Saturday. Drawing opening day byes in the six-team tournament are Montana Pawnshop-Davao of Armando Quibod and Hotel Fortuna-Boljoon of Lorenzo Chao Sy and Mayor Deogenes Derama, composed of members of the multi-titled University of the Visayas Lancers under coach Elmer Cabahug. Cebu basketball fanatics are saying that M. Lhuillier's domination of the tournament will be facing a tough ride with the presence of three commercial teams from Metro Manila. Because of this, coach Raul Alcoseba will have to extract superlative performances in the next five days from MVBA MVP Bruce Dacia, former MVP winners Woodrow Enriquez, Stephen Padilla and Jayford Rodriguez plus big men Marlon Basco, Ronald Capati and Leo Bat-og. For added measure, coach Alcoseba has enlisted veteran point guard Dale Singson and reactivated back-to-back Cebu collegiate MVP Enrico Llanto from their reserve list. The Road Kings are coming off a third place finish in the last Philippine Basketball League (PBL) conference and will be led by Erwin Santa Maria, Jonathan Aldave, Chito Jaime and Cholo Villanueva plus returning national players Patrick Cabahug, Eugene Tan and Erick Rodriguez. Their head coach is the youthful Ariel Vanguardia with Amon Oben as team manager. Pharex will be bannered by Sean Co, Ronnie Matias, Emer Oreta, JR Gerilla and Jam Alfad. MVBA veteran Richard Ian Saladaga was also acquired recently along with Cebuano guard Ronnie Bughao. The Medics will be handled by Coach Carlo Tan with Jean Alabanza as team manager. The Medics were quarterfinalists in their debut PBL conference. Penciled as the dark horse of the tournament, Fifth Avenue of Mike Dullas boasts of many great players on its roster. The challenge now for playing coach Junel Mendiola is to translate his star-studded line-up into wins on the court, relying heavily on Jeff Sanders, Billy Moody, Braulio Lim, Ronnie Zagala, Allan Salangsang and Robert Labagala. - GMA