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New-look Gems ready for D-League

After coming up short in the first two conferences of the PBA D-League, the new-look Cebuana Lhuillier Gems are hoping their fortunes will change in the 2011-12 Foundation Cup, which reels off on Tuesday at the Arena in San Juan.

In the inaugural D-League Foundation Cup last year, the Gems were swept in the best-of-three finals by the NLEX Road Warriors. Then in the recently-concluded Aspirants Cup, they were waylaid in the best-of-three semifinals by Freego Jeans. The Gems lost both semis games in painful fashion, dropping Game 1 thanks to a buzzer-beating triple by Roider Cabrera that gave Freego a one-point win, and falling by two points in overtime in Game 2.

But in an ironic twist, Freego took a leave of absence this conference, and Cebuana seized the opportunity to shore up its roster by signing up former Freego players Lester Alvarez, Janus Lozada, and Bacon Austria. The Gems also enlisted NCAA stalwarts Raymond Maconocido of San Sebastian and Jeckster Apinan of Jose Rizal University.

The crown jewel, so to speak, of the Gems cast is reigning D-League MVP Vic Manuel, who is looking to go out with a bang in what could be his last D-League stint before he applies for the PBA draft in August. Manuel, a six-four forward from PSBA, averaged 15.9 points and 8.3 boards a game in the Aspirants Cup, and Coach Luigi Trillo will again look to him to supply scoring and rebounding.

The addition of Alvarez, Adamson's shifty starting point guard in the last UAAP wars, will bolster an already impressive backcourt that includes Letran's Kevin Alas, DLSU's Simon Atkins and FEU's defensive ace Chris Exciminiano.

Former JRU star and PBA draftee Marvin Hayes, Adrian Celada of Arellano, and ex-DLSU forward James Mangahas will team with another PBA draftee Pari Llagas in the frontcourt, which also includes six-foot-seven Raymond Almazan of Letran. Lozada, meanwhile, will provide outside sniping while Austria is a good defender who can also chip in some scoring.

The decision of some UAAP and NCAA schools not to lend their players to the D-League this conference affected a number of teams, Cebuana Lhuillier included. The Gems lost talented FEU combo guard Terrence Romeo and Mapua big man Yousef Taha, who will both be skipping the Foundation Cup to concentrate on their respective collegiate teams' preseason preparations. Additionally, veteran guards Jai Reyes and Benedict Fernandez signed contracts to play in the ASEAN Basketball League, while six-five Fil-Am Mark Jeffries transferred to Blackwater.

One thing going for the team is that it has produced the past two MVPs of the D-League — Allein Maliksi, MVP of last year's Foundation Cup who is now with Ginebra in the PBA, and Manuel. It will be interesting to see if Manuel will win two in a row or if another Gem will rise to the occasion and become the third Cebuana player to win the top individual D-League award.

Meanwhile, the Cagayan Rising Stars, one of two new teams seeing action this conference, have yet to play an official D-League game, but their coach Alvin Pua is already in hot water. According to a report on the D-League website, Pua punched a game official during a practice game against the NU Bulldogs after what he felt was a bad call. The referee, identified as Jessie Arabejo, was quoted as saying he approached Pua to explain why he made that call when the coach suddenly hit him in the face, causing his nose to bleed. The game was stopped immediately upon orders of PBA Supervisor of Officials Ramil Cruz. Pua faces a sanction from PBA Commissioner Chito Salud.

E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com. Twitter: @Sid_Ventura