Pagadian, Zamboanga Del Sur—Petra Cement-Roxas and Zamboanga City aim for a head start in their best-of-three semifinals phase two in the 2021 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup Wednesday.
The fourth-ranked Vanguards and the fifth seed JPS will clash at 5 pm, here at the Pagadian City Gymnasium.
In their lone matchup in the eliminations, Roxas was triumphant, thanks to a buzzer-beater by Lester Reyes, 71-69.
That layup by Reyes would be well-remembered by the Valientes and would use it as a motivation in their series.
“The thing we will remember is this is a bounce-back game for us kasi the last time we were beaten with a buzzer-beater,” said JPS head coach Tony Pardo. “Bounce back talaga will be the focal point of our game plan.”
In that game, balanced was the Vanguards offense with seven players scoring at least six points led by James Castro’s 17 points, nine rebounds, and six assists.
Chito Jaime chipped in 14 points and 10 rebounds while Reyes had eight points and eight rebounds.
Despite being one spot ahead of JPS, Roxas head coach Eddie Laure is aware of the offensive prowess their opponents have.
“Kailangan naming mag-prepare nang husto. ‘Yung detalye ng game plan namin dapat one page at the book kami. Hindi kami pupwede magbara-bara dito kasi beterano lahat itong Zamboanga,” he said.
In order to have the same result with their elimination round matchup, the Vanguards head tactician said everyone needs to step up.
Just like how balanced their scoring was back in their last game.
“Lahat kami kailangan asahan ang bawat isa. Lalo ‘yung bench namin kailangan mag step-up kasi malaking bagay sila para makapagpahinga ‘yung mga major minutes,” said Laure. “Sa amin sa Roxas wala kami noong isa o dalawa lang ang aasahan namin, kailangan lahat kami ibigay ‘yung A-game namin para makuha ‘yung series against Zamboanga.”