Belo, Elite target No. 3 vs Texters

MANILA, Philippines - The Blackwater Elite hope to sustain their breakthrough run with top rookie Mac Belo, looking to stretch their win drive to three as they tangle with the TNT KaTropa Texters and their comebacking main man Jayson Castro in the PBA Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight.

In a first-ever 2-0 start in a tourney, the Elite try to get going although they expect an uphill battle in their 4:15 setto with the Texters who are finally activating Castro in the season.

GlobalPort, meanwhile, guns for a second straight win versus Star in the 7 p.m. mainer.

The Batang Pier got off to a big season start with their souped-up lineup, blasting the Mahindra Floodbuster, 97-75, Friday while the Hotshots, also with an array of new faces in their roster, matched up well with the San Miguel Beermen before floundering at the finish and absorbing an 88-96 loss.

The Texters split their first two games minus Castro who’s still then trying to get back in shape. They dropped their first game against the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters (87-101) before bouncing back with a 108-103 decision over the Barangay Ginebra Kings in games they played under interim coach Josh Reyes.

Even with coach Nash Racela done with his duty with the FEU Tams in the UAAP, Reyes will still call the shots for the Texters tonight since it’s the latter who made their preparation against the Elite.

But Castro will finally be back, taking over from the injury-hit Alex Nuyles.

The Texters are not to take the Elite lightly after their back-to-back wins over the Phoenix Fuel Masters (94-87) and the Meralco Bolts (86-86).

“That’s the problem that I can see with our 2-0 start. The other teams would now prepare harder for us,” said Blackwater coach Leo Isaac.

“We’ve got the players that we wanted. Our teamwork is in progress. You can see glitters in our team. Hopefully, it develops into its full potential,” Isaac also said.

Belo has quickly emerged as Blackwater’s new top gun. The former FEU star was the lead light in their early surge in the season.

The GlobalPort-Star setto is a matchup between two teams that were among the busiest during the wheeling and dealings in the offseason.

“We need to slow them down and stop their easy points off a transition,” said GlobalPort coach Franz Pumaren.             

  NOTES: Alaska Milk sanctioned Vic Manuel and Ping Exciminiano both with a one-game ban for violating a league rule disallowing players from playing in unsanctioned tourney. The Alaska management didn’t specify where Manuel and Exciminiano played. The Aces thus will be badly crippled when they play the SMBeermen tomorrow. Calvin Abueva, Sonny Thoss and Rome dela Rosa are all nursing injuries…. SMB gunner David Semerad suffered an Achilles tendon strain in their game against Phoenix.