Stallions, Mavericks dispute SBA crown

MANILA, Philippines — Top-seeded Taguig Stallions and the fancied Manila MSW Mavericks promise a slugfest on the rack when they dispute the coveted crown in the inaugural Sharks Billiard Association (SBA) season championship next Monday at the SBA Arena and Sports Bar in Tomas Morato, Quezon City.

Made up of the country’s budding ang seasoned cuemasters, the two teams collide in a still-to-be-announced format from Dec. 16 to 20 for the Chino Trinidad championship trophy, in honor of the late commissioner of the first professional billiards league.

SBA, led by founder and CEO Hadley Mariano, introduced sharking and different formats like King of the Hill, 1-on-1, doubles and shootout in 9-ball games all throughout the season featuring four pioneer teams.

The finalists are raring to go, assuring their readiness to wipe out the racks against each other with sharking (a kind of trashtalking), which has been introduced by SBA compared to usual silent pool games, as part of their tactics to victory.

“I treat this finals series like the 2016 NBA finals between Cavs and Warriors. Maaring sa kanila ang regular season pero sa amin ang finals,” said Manila MSW head coach Dennis Po.

Manila bowed to Taguig in the elims but is confident on flipping the script with team captain Baseth “Kingpin” Mocaibat leading the way.