MBA All-Stars ready for Jones Cup war

TAIPEI – The Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) All-Stars arrived safely Friday night for the 25th William Jones International Invitational Basketball Cup carrying them a lot of optimism for a good showing.

One thing head coach Francis Rodriguez likes about his team is its ability to adjust to different situations. It can play big or small or fast or deliberate whenever the situation calls for it. It is also loaded with players with vast international experience, a big plus factor. Just before leaving, the team got a big morale boost after Cebuana Lhuillier Pawnshop decided to sponsor their participation.

‘My frontline is solid with Romel Adducul and Jeffrey Flowers as the anchors. Then you have John Ferriols and Billy Mamaril as backups so I can now slide Eddie Laure and Reynel Hugnatan to the small forward position," said Rodriguez.

This will be Flowers’ third appearance in the Jones Cup. He led last year’s tournament in rebounding at 9.1 per game. Adducul, Ferriols and Laure are all former MBA MVPs and veterans of the 2001 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games while Hugnatan continues to raise his game after winning the 2001 MBA Most Improved Player award. All frontliners are expected to provide solid defense against their much bigger opponents using their athleticism and Filipino basketball smarts.