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By ADRIAN STEWART CO
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MANILA – The Mighty Sports Apparels-Philippines begins its quest for a second straight international crown when it takes on Seoul Samsung Thunders at the start of the 2016 Merlion Cup tonight at the OCBC Arena in Singapore.
Leading the way for the squad of head coach Charles Tiu are former Gilas Pilipinas naturalized center Marcus Douthit, as well as reinforcements Hamady N’Diaye, Al Thornton and Dewarick Spencer.
Also bannering the squad are Ilonggo Kiefer Ravena, Matthew Wright, Jason Brickman, Angelo Alolino, Jason Deutchman, Raphael Banal, Ty Tang, Edrick Ferrer, and GlobalPort Batang Pier’s Joseph Yeo and Gabriel Banal.
According to Tiu, after forming a solid lineup, he is confident of their chances in the tournament to bag a second straight international crown after ruling the 2016 William Jones Cup last July.
“Hopefully we get a chance to win the championship again,” Tiu said. “The competition is a bit tougher because teams also have imports. But with a good pool of imports plus local players, I think we got a good chance of winning another championship.”
After their match against the Thunders, which will be reinforced by Korean naturalized player Moon Tae Young (Greg Stevenson), the Mighty Sports will next face Asean Basketball League champions Westport Malaysian Dragons on Friday night.
“Actually, malakas lahat ng teams kasi every team has imports and that takes away our advantage,” Tiu said. “There’s no room for error. My challenge is finding the perfect combination.”
The Mighty Sports match against the Thunders will be shown live on Aksyon TV Channel 41 starting at 8:30 p.m. tonight./PN
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