Basketball
Douthit makes Air 21 debut vs Barako; Petron, B-MEG collide
Marcus Douthit makes his debut as import in the PBA as his team Air 21 plays its first game in the Commissioner’s Cup against Barako Bull Sunday at the Ynares Center in Antipolo City.
Douthit, a naturalized Filipino, represented the SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national squad in the FIBA Asia Championship last year in Wuhan, China. But PBA rules forbid naturalized citizens to play in the league as locals, leaving Douthit available only as an import.
The Express were awarded exclusive rights to negotiate with Douhthit, who also played in the Commissioner’s Cup last season as part of SMART-Gilas.
Douthit and the Express will plunge to action against the Energy at 4:15 p.m.
Two more new players, Nelbert Omolon and Mark Isip, will debut for the Express.
Omolon and Isip were picked up by Air 21 in a trade with Meralco, in exchange for the Bolts’ 2012 draft pick that had been earlier traded to the Express.
Barako is coming off a tough 88-86 loss to B-MEG, a game wherein NBA veteran DerMarr Johnson sizzled for 19 first half points, but was held to only two points in the second half.
B-MEG and Petron square off in the day’s other scheduled match. The two teams collide at 6:30 p.m. with the Llamados hoping to keep a hold of the solo lead and the Boosters seeking to enter the win column.
The Llamados are the early solo leader in the tournament after victories over Meralco and Barako Bull while the Boosters lost their first two games to drop into a tie with Rain or Shine at the cellar.
B-MEG coach Tim Cone expects Petron to come all out on Sunday.
“Coming off two losses, Petron will most likely be a beast. We’ll have to meet their intensity early and sustain good play for 48 minutes, which is something we’re trying to get better at,” wrote Cone in a text message to InterAKTV.
