The Beermen have lost their first three games of the season and can’t really bear to lose another one as they remain the only winless team in the tournament featuring a dozen teams.
Sourly missing the services of three key players to the national training pool, the Beermen dropped their first three games to Selecta, Coca-Cola and Talk N Text by an average of four points.
Not even the presence of new import Mario Bennett, who came in to replace the ineffective Keith Hill, could spark the Beermen past the Phone Pals last Friday, losing by a hairline, 81-82.
Aside from Olsen Racela, Danny Seigle and back-to-back MVP Danny Ildefonso, head coach Jong Uichico is also being missed at the SMB bench in favor of the country’s Asian Games preparations.
While San Miguel is struggling, FedEx is going steady behind spectacular imports Jarmaine Walker and Tim Moore, battle-scarred locals Dindo Pumaren, Bong Alvarez and Gerry Codiñera and prized rookie Yancy de Ocampo
FedEx, which bought the Tanduay franchise during the off-season, won its last two games against Shell (70-64) and defending champion Sta. Lucia (93-83) after losing its first two against Coca-Cola (66-62) and Red Bull (107-99).