After 11 days of layoff, the dominant Jumbo Plastic-Basilan returns to action on Sunday to start its 2021 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Mindanao Leg best-of-three Finals at the Pagadian Gymnasium in Zamboanga del Sur.
The Peace Riders gained an outright Finals berth after sweeping the eight-game elimination round.
Standing in the way of Basilan is fourth seed Petra Cement-Roxas – fresh off a thrilling 83-72 win over powerhouse Zamboanga City in Game Three of the semifinals phase two.
Game One is scheduled at 7 pm. Prior to that, an awarding ceremony will be held at 6 pm as the league will announce this leg’s Season MVP, Top Homegrown Player, and the Mythical Team.
Despite beating the Vanguards in the elimination round, Peace Riders coach Jerson Cabiltes is sure this series is going to be different.
For one, their lone matchup was weird. It started on July 13 in Ipil, Zamboanga Sibugay and ended on July 27 here at the Pagadian City Gymnasium, 85-64.
The game was cancelled halfway through due to unplayable court conditions in Ipil, and it was agreed upon that the game would be continued at the same scoreline and time it stopped.
“The line-up of Roxas is a mixture of young and veteran players with experience so it is going to be a good series,” Cabiltes said, hoping they will still come out with fire and aggression since they practiced eight times in their 11 days of break.
Nagged with injuries, Bobby Balucanag, Darwin Lunor, and Mark Bringas will all be game-time decisions for Game One.
Meanwhile, Roxas, who just played five games in six days, would use the experience they got from playing against a veteran JPS squad, which featured players like Gabby Espinas, Mac Cardona, and Jerwin Gaco among others.
It was a huge boost for the Vanguards, especially for the younger ones according to head coach Eddie Laure.
“We learned a lot from our last game against JPS. It looked like we won a championship when we beat them because of their complete line-up. It’s really a tough game,” Laure, the former Adamson University Falcons, said.
Despite being the underdog, the first-time head tactician is ready to face the challenge.
Even with the Peace Riders’ impressive clean 8-0 slate in the eliminations, setting various records along the way, Laure knows all is reset in the Finals.