Bolts gear up for Govs Cup with KJ McDaniels
MERALCO looks to build on its late surge in the Commissioner’s Cup and coaches are hoping to retain KJ McDaniels for the season-ending Governors’ Cup.
Although well short of the height limit of 6 feet 10 inches for the midseason tournament, McDaniels was brought in to replace Johnny O’Bryant as Meralco struggled early. With McDaniels, the Bolts got a win run going after languishing near the bottom and got a shot to make the quarterfinals, falling just short.
“We’ve (coaching staff) discussed it and we really want to bring him (McDaniels) back, but we still have to clear it with upper management,” said Black after the team ended its campaign in the Commissioner’s Cup.
Black is confident the Bolts will be much more competitive in the next tournament with McDaniels.
“That was the reason we brought him in. We knew he would have a difficult time this conference mainly because everybody else is 6-9 abd 6-10 and he’s only 6-4 and-a-half,” he said.
UAAP awards
UNIVERSITY of the Philippines' Malick Diouf is set to be named UAAP Season 85 men's basketball tournament MVP.
The Senegalese big man led the league with 73.857 statistical points (SPs), averaging 10.8 points, 10.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 1.5 steals through 14 games.
He is joined in the Mythical Team by Forthsky Padrigao of Ateneo (71.571 SPs), University of the East’s Luis Villegas (69.857), Ateneo’s Dave Ildefonso (64.929) and UP's banger Carl Tamayo who had 63.429 SPs.
Eka Soriano of the University of Sto. Tomas was named women’s MVP with 92.286 SPs. She is joined in the Mythical Team by Ateneo’s Kacey dela Rosa (77.0) and Jhazmin Joson (74.714), UST’s Tacky Tacatac (73.429) and Adamson's Victoria Adeshina (72.214).
Brandon Vera retires
FIL-Am BRANDON Vera announced he is ending his MMA career after losing by technical knockout to Amir Aliakbari in One 164 at Mall on Saturday at MOA Arena.
The former UFC fighter who went on to claim the heavyweight title in Singapore-based MMA promotion One Championship bows out with a 16-10 win-loss record.
"Kababayan, ang tagal ko nang ginagawa ito. You just witnessed my final fight," said Vera.
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