Alaska was destined, says B-Meg coach

MANILA, Philippines - For newly designated B-Meg coach Jorge Gallent, there was no way Alaska could lose in the recent PBA Fiesta Conference finals because it was written in the stars.

“It was destiny,” said the 41-year-old Gallent who was named to succeed Ryan Gregorio last Monday. “In the playoffs, they won Game 1 of each of their series against Ginebra, Talk ‘N’ Text and San Miguel Beer. They finished second in two of the last three conferences. They were due. Diamon Simpson was just too dominating. I thought San Miguel felt too much pressure, like second place couldn’t be good enough.”

Gallent said the key was board control. “San Miguel’s a great rebounding team so that when Alaska matched their strength off the boards, it became anybody’s game,” he pointed out. “Alaska went all out to make sure there wouldn’t be a Game 7. They started with a zone and San Miguel couldn’t break it, throwing a lot of bad shots from the outside. I couldn’t understand why Jonas Villanueva didn’t even get to play.”

Gallent said B-Meg would’ve had a chance of beating San Miguel in the semis if only import Clif Brown stayed around. With Brown in a healthy lineup, he speculated that Alaska would’ve been in big trouble in the finals – if B-Meg made it.

“We needed a Tony Washam to survive the Rain Or Shine series but Clif would’ve been a better fit for us in matching up against San Miguel or Alaska because of the way he plays and his size,” he said. “What hampered us in the San Miguel series were injuries to James (Yap), Ping (Marc Pingris) and Roger (Yap) who all played hurt. Kerby (Raymundo) couldn’t play at all. Roger’s injury was a big factor because he does so much for us on both ends.”

Gallent said he’s nervous and excited about coaching the Llamados.

“We’ll be a defensive running team,” he said. “We expect James and Roger to run more. We’ll play physical – to the extent the rules will allow. Our defense will trigger our offense. We’ll be a contender. We’re going to defend our All-Filipino title.”

Gallent ticked off the players with expiring contracts – James Yap, Paul Artadi, Don Allado, Rafi Reavis, Chris Timberlake, Romel Adducul and Jonathan Fernandez. If he has his way, they’ll all be renewed.

“I understand we’ll be picking ninth in the draft and I’m not sure how many quality players will be left after the fifth or sixth pick,” he said. “We’ll look who’s available in the pool of free agents. We could use another point guard and another big guy who can shoot from the perimeter like Don. Most of our big guys shoot from inside 15 feet. That’s why teams like to zone us or collapse on our big guys.”

The former FEU cager said he’s scouting for an assistant coach to take over from Ronnie Magsanoc who has joined Gregorio at Meralco. “We’ll miss Ryan and Ronnie – they were with the franchise since 2002,” he said. “Koy Banal will stay as assistant coach and I’m hoping Rey Evangelista comes back. Rey has a pharmacy in Ormoc and is thinking of concentrating on his business. No matter what, we’ll be competitive next season.”

Gallent said his experience as a player will help on the bench. He played for FEU in the UAAP until he was involved in a motorcycle accident in Alabang Hills in 1988. Gallent lost his right eye in the mishap. Out of basketball to stay away from physical contact, he turned to golf and now carries a four handicap. But in 1992, Gallent made a courageous comeback on the court to play for Joe Lipa with A&W in the PBL. He went on to play for Stag under Alfrancis Chua and saw action for the PBL grand slam team. Then, Gallent moved to Tanduay, first in the PBL and later in the PBA where he played for two seasons.

While in the Tanduay pro roster, Gallent was assigned by Chua to coach the club’s junior team in the PBL and won the championship in 1999. The victory led to Gallent coaching a Philippine high school team in an international tournament in Taipei that year. The so-called Gallent Men captured the crown, outclassing a US all-star selection, Korea, Japan, an Asian-American team from California and two crack Taiwanese squads. Among Gallent’s players were James Yap, Artadi, Erick Arejola, Jerwin Gaco and Rey Mendoza. His assistant coach was Luigi Trillo, now in Cone’s staff at Alaska.

“My playing background is an advantage,” he explained. “When I call for a hard practice, the players can’t complain that I don’t know the feeling because I was once in their shoes. I know a player’s limit, when to rest his legs, when to pull him out and put him in. I know what goes on in a player’s mind.”

After hanging up his sneakers in 2000, Gallent became Caloy Garcia’s assistant coach at Welcoat in the PBL. The cousins won a title together. In 2004, Gallent joined Harbour Centre as head coach and took six straight PBL titles, the most memorable of which was the fourth in 2007 when Mikee Romero’s fabled squad came back from 17 down with seven minutes left in the fourth period to win the clincher over Hapee Toothpaste in the best-of-three finals.

“I’ll never forget that conference,” he said. “Hapee won 12 straight in the eliminations and looked unbeatable with Gabe Norwood, Mark Borboran, Larry Rodriguez and Reed Juntilla. We had Sol Mercado, T. Y. Tang and Jerwin. Luckily, we got the job done.” Gallent also piloted San Sebastian to the NCAA Final Four in 2007.

Gallent joined coach Yeng Guiao’s staff at Burger King in the 2009 Fiesta Conference but left after six games with Romero’s withdrawal from taking over the franchise then jumped to Purefoods as the team struggled with a 2-5 start. He was on Gregorio’s staff when Purefoods took the All-Filipino crown last conference.