By June Navarro
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Loaded with talent on paper, Magnolia translated that fearsome reputation into a more concrete form Sunday night.

Danny Seigle and Dondon Hontiveros presided over the Beverage Masters’ high-octane offense that dazzled the Air21 Express, 121-112, at the start of the 2007-2008 Smart-PBA Philippine Cup at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Firing a game-high 28 points, Seigle conspired with Hontiveros in a third-quarter onslaught that transformed a double-digit deficit to an imposing lead the Express couldn’t overturn.

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By Beth Celis
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Typical of this so-called cyber age, the discovery of Filipino-American national player Vicky Brick from the University of Maryland, a Division I US NCAA squad, came through the Internet.

And SBP executive director Patrick Gregorio was the one who tracked her down.

“I was searching the US NCAA website one day, in an effort to find a Fil-Am talent for our ladies national team, when I came across Vicky’s photo,” Pato recounted.

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By Musong R. Castillo
Inquirer

Game Sunday (Araneta Coliseum)
4:30 p.m. — Opening Ceremonies
6:30 p.m. — Air21 vs Magnolia

MANILA, Philippines–Robert Jaworski’s much-anticipated return to the Philippine Basketball Association is not about to happen — at least for the coming Philippine Cup that opens Sunday.

The one-time MVP, many-time champion player and winner of four PBA titles as a player-coach has told Air21 team manager Lito Alvarez to let Bo Perasol handle the team as he takes care of personal business matters in the United States.

“He told me to have coach Bo continue handling the team because he (Perasol) is a good coach,” Alvarez said. “He will just have to take care of some business matters in the States and that we will talk formally once he returns.”

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By Jasmine W. Payo
Inquirer

GAMES THURSDAY (Araneta Coliseum)
3 p.m. — Univ. of the East vs La Salle
(Game 1, best-of-three Finals)

MANILA, Philippines–It was the biggest winning margin in the rivalry that more than lived up to its hype this season. And the win also turned out to be the biggest of them all.

De La Salle University ended its rare five-game saga with arch rival Ateneo de Manila University on top as the Green Archers turned back the Blue Eagles, 65-60, Sunday to clinch the last UAAP Finals berth in front of a 23,000-strong sellout crowd at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

“This is the only time that two is greater than three,” said La Salle coach Franz Pumaren. “They beat us three times (this season), but we beat them when it counted the most.”

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By Jasmine W. Payo
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–A DAY after the University of the Philippines gave coach Joe Lipa the pink slip, alumni groups were pushing for two of the temperamental coach’s former wards, Eric Altamirano and Ronnie Magsanoc, to take his place.

School officials said they will name the coach early to give him time to prepare for the next UAAP season, which coincides with UP’s centennial celebration, but have yet to begin their search for Lipa’s replacement.

“I recommended for [Lipa's early] termination because of the centennial year,” said Hercules Callanta, dean of the College of Human Kinetics, who wants the team to be competitive in the 2008 season. “The next coach will be hard pressed for a result. We want [the new coach] to have the luxury of time.”

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By Greg Heakes
Agence France-Presse

LAS VEGAS, Nevada–Luis Scola scored 27 points and collected nine rebounds as Argentina beat Brazil 91-80 to became the first team from the FIBA Americas Championship to punch their ticket to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Carlos Delfino also had 13 points, three steals and four assists for Argentina in the semi-final matchup in front of a crowd of about 2,000 at the Thomas and Mack Center arena.

“It has been a long week,” said Argentina head coach Sergio Hernandez. “I am very excited. Our third quarter today was our best.”

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By Manolo Iñigo
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–There is no question that Carlos “Caloy” Loyzaga is the greatest Filipino basketball player in history, but little else is known about how he started his checkered career.

Loyzaga, who marks his 77th birth anniversary on Wednesday, was born on Aug. 29. 1930 to a family with a penchant for sports in San Jose, Mindoro. There, the Loyzaga boys organized a basketball team, with the tall and gangling Caloy at the helm.

Already showing signs of greatness and towering at 6-foot-3 (a rarity among local players at that time), the young Loyzaga moved from sandlot basketball in Mindoro to the big time in Manila by joining the star-studded Sta. Mesa Aces in 1942.

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WHY feel sorry?

It was not the players’ fault but the inability of the officials to sort out their problems. It took them years to resolve it and then form a team which is less than a year old.

Congratulations to all the players for giving a good fight!

– N S Rivera, Cerritos, California (via e-mail)

By Francis Ochoa
Inquirer

TOKUSHIMA, JAPAN–As it were, all the Philippines really had at most to cross the wide expanse between here and Beijing was a bridge made of straw.

And on Monday, even that was burned down, torched by a Jordan team that played its best basketball at the right time — depending on which side of the coliseum you were watching — on the way to an 84-76 victory over San Miguel-RP in the FIBA-Asia men’s championship at the Asty Tokushima.

Jordan shredded the Philippines’ Olympic hopes in twos, with resident stars Rasheim Wright and Zaid Alkhas doing the tango in the third period and Islam Abbaas and Sam Daghles completing the demolition job in the fourth to book for their team a quarterfinal slot in this Olympic-qualifying event.

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By Jasmine W. Payo
Inquirer

TWO big men are amazingly shaking off the underachiever tag that had hung over them for several seasons in the UAAP men’s basketball competition.

Long consigned to the background, Ford Arao of the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles and Joseph Linga-Lingao of the National University Bulldogs came out of their shells over the weekend and took charge in their team’s first-day victories.

“He really wants to make a big impact this season,” NU coach Manny Dandan said after his starting center powered the Bulldogs to a 73-70 overtime victory against Far Eastern University in Saturday’s opener.

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