Source: Businessmirror.com.ph

After getting Mark Cardona from the trading block, Meralco is now eyeing Coca-Cola center Asi Taulava as part of its efforts to make an impressive showing in its maiden season in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) this October.

Tigers board representative JB Baylon admitted that the newest team in the league is seriously working to strike a deal with Coke for the services of the six-foot-nine Fil-Tongan although there are still no offer yet from the camp of Meralco. (more…)

Meralco, the newest member in the Philippine Basketball Association after acquiring the franchise of Sta. Lucia went busy in the trading block as it acquired franchise player MacMac Cardona.

In addition to acquiring Cardona, Meralco also got forward Beau Belga from  Air21.

Meralco’s new head coach Ryan Gregorio and at same time head of its basketball operations, confirmed this new development to GMANews.TV. (more…)

The Alaska Aces dumped the San Miguel Beermen in preserving a 102-88 victory in Game 6 and winning the PBA Fiesta Conference best-of-seven series 4-2 last night, Wednesday (Philippine time) at the Araneta Coliseum.

It was the 13th championships of the Alaska Aces matching the legendary Crispa Redmanizers and becoming the second winningest team in PBA history. At same time, Alaska coach Tim Cone tied former coach Baby Dalupan for the most number of titles with imports with a total of nine championships. (more…)

Far Eastern University guard RR Garcia, a top candidate for the Most Valuable Player award came to the rescue in the extension period.

The heady Far Eastern University play maker delivered the dagger in overtime to squelch University of the East’s upset bid and tow the Tamaraws to a hard-earned 83-77 overtime triumph in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament at the Philsports Arena Sunday.

Garcia’s floater with 19.7 seconds left in the extra period kept the rallying Warriors at bay and had his Tamaraws averting their first back-to-back setbacks of the season.

The Warriors were in fact having the last offensive crack in regulation play. Guard Paul Lee drove down the lane and made a perfect feed to Raffy Reyes who failed to score an easy short stab that could have give them their second upset of the season.

Garcia and Reil Cervantes took charge in overtime as their baskets carried FEU on safer ground.

In one play during the extension period, Cervantes, gave a driving Lee a clothes-line tackle while attempting to stop the UE guard’s penetration. Lee landed hard and grimaced in pain while picking himself up. He was replaced by Paul Zamar to take the two free throws but Zamar only made 1 out of 2.

Garcia finished with 23 points while Cervantes contributed 19 markers on top of nine boards.

FEU improved to 8-1 and continued their hold of solo lead in the eight-team cast while UE ended with 2-7.

In the second game, Adamson Falcons win over UST Growling Tigers in double overtime.

The 73rd UAAP Men’s Basketball Season 2nd round continues with Adamson University Falcons seeking solo second place against the slumping University of Santo Tomas Tigers.

After their latest conquest of the league leading unbeaten Far Eastern University Tamaraws, the Falcons are now in a position to extend their two-game winning streak and gain the no. 2 spot at the Philsports Arena. (more…)

Host Lebanon fight their way out past Philippines to enter final. Fadi El Khatib scored a game-high 25 and Jackson Vroman added 23 as Lebanon kept a fighting Philippines at bay with a 81-80 result, and enter the finals of the 3rd FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup on Saturday.

Marcio Lassiter of Philippines too had 25 points for the game.

Chris Tiu brought the score close 77-78 with 1:32 left on the clock, but Vroman collected a defensive rebound and set El Khatib on the run, which calmed the hosts’ nerves. (more…)

Hosts Lebanon with Fadi El Khatib on the forefront defeated GCC champions Qatar 77-74 in overtime and finishing the Preliminary Round with unbeaten record of four games in Group B. 

Meanwhile, Qatar finished second in Group B with 3-1 win-loss record followed by the Philippines at 2-2. (more…)

Qatar domination of Philippines still continue by giving out a 66-61 win over the Philippines team in their Group B match.

The win put Qatar on the same spot with Lebanon atop the standings in Group B with three wins and no lose. The Philippines wound up their Group B assignments with a 2-2 record. (more…)

Asi Taulava played his best game thus far in helping the Philippines earned a 75-71 win over defending champions Jordan in their Group B game.

This is the second straight win for the Philippines after their opening day lose to Lebanon giving them a 2-1 win-loss record in the standings. On the other hand, Jordan, who are using this event as a part of their preparations for the 2010 FIBA World Championship, suffered their second successive loss. (more…)

Look who’s calling out Floyd Mayweather Jr to go on with the potential mega-fight. It’s Manny Pacquiao.

In a very rare instance, the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter, has challenged his unbeaten rival to face him in the ring on Nov. 13.

Pacquiao said in his weekly blog that came out in a popular boxing website that Mayweather needs to prove himself in the ring if he is not really a coward. He further said that he already gave in more than what is necessary and accepted some of the requests that Mayweather asked for just to have this fight to go through. (more…)

Philippines got its first win in the current FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup with an 81-69 come-from-behind win.

After the half-time break with the score 35-40 in favor of Syria, the Philippines returned to the court recharged and outscored the Syrian via an 18-5 rally in the first five minutes of the third quarter and sustained the momentum to take the wind off the Syrians to post the win.

Chris Tiu of the Philippines spearheaded the resurgence scoring nine of his 14 points in the third quarter. Scoring leaders for the Philippines were Mark Barocca and Asi Taulava both scoring 16 points each with the latter completing a double-double with his game-high 19 rebounds. (more…)

Hosts Lebanon have too much firepower enroute to a lopsided victory over Philippines 74-59 in the Group B game.

Lebanon, who have never lost a game to Philippines in the last decade, won 74-59.

Rony Fahed led all scorers with a game-high of 23 points 17 of them in the first half putting the hosts in control. (more…)

The 3rd FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup will begin on August 7 until 15, 2010 at Ghazir Sporting Club, Beirut, Lebanon.

Lebanon is a basketball loving country and the holding of the 3rd FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup is the first ever FIBA National Men’s Basketball event to be hosted in Lebanon. This is a ten team nine-day event commencing this Saturday, August 7. (more…)

MANILA, Philippines – University of the East (UE) Red Warriors finally broke into the win column with a pulsating win over the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, 59-54 on Saturday in the UAAP Season 73 men’s basketball at the Araneta Coliseum. (more…)