Creamline won the Premier Volleyball League Invitational Cup trophy. The Cool Smashers beat the guest team from Taiwan—KingWhale Taipei.
Volleyball
PVL: Creamline won the Invitational Cup. Creamline avenged their defeat to the KingWhale Taipei in the semifinals after sweeping the Taiwanese club in the Premier Volleyball League Invitational Cup finals—25-21, 25-19, 25-8. Conference MVP Tots Carlos and Jema Galanza scored 14 and 13 respectively while Finals MVP Celine Domingo had 11 points.
📷: PVL Media
PVL Invitational Cup awardees
- Tots Carlos, Creamline
Most Valuable Player - Tots Carlos, Creamline
Best Opposite Spiker - Alyssa Valdez, Creamline
Ces Molina, Cignal HD
Best Outside Spikers - Mika Reyes, PLDT
Dell Palomata, PLDT
Best Middle Blockers - Qiu Shi-Qing, KingWhale
Best Libero - Liao Yi-Jen
Best Setter
Philippine Basketball Association
TNT booked the first ticket to the Philippine Cup Finals. TNT eliminated Magnolia after six games of their PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series. Leading 2-1 in Game 4, Tropang Giga cruised to a 102-84 victory. Poy Erram tallied a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Hotshots extended the series behind Mark Barroca’s heroics in the 105-97 Game 5 win. The former FEU star finished with 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. In Game 6, Jayson Castro had a vintage performance to lead the Tropang Giga to an 87-74 victory. The Blur exploded with 26 points on 10-of-13 shooting off the bench.
📷: PBA Official Website
Meralco forced a rubber match against SMB in the Philippine Cup semifinals. Meralco pushed the Philippine Cup semifinals against San Miguel Beer to the limit. Trailing 1-2 in the series, Aaron Black (21 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists) led the Bolts to a 111-97 Game 4 win. In Game 5, CJ Perez had 25 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists in Beermen’s 89-78 victory. The Bolts tied the series to 3-3 after escaping the Beermen in Game 6, 96-92. Chris Newsome led the Bolts with 19 points and 7 rebounds, while Aaron Black and Cliff Hodge scored 17 apiece. June Mar Fajardo tallied 23 points and 13 rebounds in a losing effort.
Converge removed Jeffrey Cariaso and Dickie Bachmann. Converge has decided to part ways with its head coach Jeffrey Cariaso and team manager Dickie Bachmann. The two individuals were carryovers from the Alaska franchise. The company’s human resources head Albert Custodio will serve as the team manager and team’s alternate governor. Aldin Ayo, who steered Colegio de San Juan de Letran and De La Salle University to NCAA championship in 2015 and UAAP championship in 2016 respectively, was named as the new head coach of the FiberXers.
SBP to reveal PBA players who will join Gilas pool after the Philippine Cup semifinals. Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas will announce the PBA players who will join the men’s basketball team pool after the semifinals of the ongoing Philippine Cup conference. According to SBP spokesperson Sonny Barrios, the decision is to not distract the players from their jobs with their mother teams. Meanwhile, NBA player Jordan Clarkson will be the designated naturalized player in the pool. Only two collegiate players will be tapped—University of the Philippines’ Carl Tamayo and De La Salle University’s Kevin Quiambao. B.League players Dwight Ramos, Ray Parks Jr, and Ravena brothers—Kiefer and Thirdy—are part of the pool. Also part of the pool is Francis Lopez, who is currently a free agent. SBP is still in talks with Kai Sotto over his availability for the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
Ginebra is bringing back Justin Brownlee as the import for the next two conferences. Barangay Ginebra head coach Tim Cone revealed that Justin Brownlee will be tapped as reinforcement in the upcoming Commissioner’s Cup and the Governors’ Cup. Tapping the five-time PBA Champion is a “no-brainer”, according to the two-time grand slam coach.
Miscellaneous
World University Basketball Series: Ateneo dominated Indonesian university. Ateneo de Manila University opened its World University Basketball Series campaign with a 125-39 demolition of Indonesia’s Universitas Pelita Harapan on Tuesday. Debuting Paul Garcia and Kai Ballungay led the Blue Eagles with 17 and 15 points respectively. Forthsky Padrigao added 14 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals while Geo Chiu tallied a double-double with 10 points and 17 rebounds.
World University Basketball Series: Ateneo completed a comeback against a Taiwanese university. Ateneo de Manila University overcame an 11-point deficit against Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, 88-78. Kai Ballungay buried 4 three-pointers to finish with 21 points and 7 rebounds. Joseph Obasa had 17 points and 15 rebounds and Dave Ildefonso added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue Eagles.
World University Basketball Series: Ateneo took the inaugural crown. Ateneo de Manila University won over Japan’s Tokai University, 68-59, to sweep the inaugural World University Basketball Series. The Philippine representative weathered a comeback attempt of the home team. Dave Ildefonso scored 12 for the Blue Eagles.
More:
- Two-time Olympian Lydia de Vega passed away at age 57 after a battle with breast cancer. Once named “Asia’s Fastest Woman”, she won 9 gold medals in the Southeast Asian Games and 2 gold medals in the Asian Games. She set a personal best of 11.28 seconds in the 100-meters, which had stood as a national record for 33 years.
- The University of the Philippines tapped Shaq Delos Santos as women’s volleyball head coach.
- Kai Sotto and Jordan Clarkson will arrive on August 18th and 19th respectively to join the Philippine men’s basketball team preparing for the upcoming window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.