Volunteers, Blades clash

The Olongapo Volunteers have beaten the LBC Batangas Blades twice. Today, those victories no longer matter as they meet anew in sudden death to decide the Northern Conference finalist of the MBA First Conference.

Aside from the psychological edge, another thing going for the Volunteers is the homecourt advantage as the 3 p.m. game will be played at the Olongapo Convention Center.

This is the same venue the Volunteers first beat the Blades, 90-85, April 7.

Starring Brixter Encarnacion and Jeffrey Flowers, the Volunteers repeated over the Blades, 90-85, May 12 at the Lipa Youth and Cultural Center to emerge the Northern Conference top qualifier and gain the homecourt edge in the knockout semifinal.

"The homecourt advantage will really work for us. It doesn’t guarantee a win but it would really make the job a little easier," said Olongapo coach Junel Baculi.

The Volunteers, of course, have won all their three games at the 2,500-seater, air-conditioned venue.

Baculi, a five-time PBL champion and two-time Asian Interclub champion coach, said they would just have to exert more defensive effort on Blades gunners Eddie Laure, Alex Compton, Jeffrey Sanders and Tonyboy Espinosa.

According to Baculi, however, they can’t afford to let their guards down as the Blades would always be hard to beat being the reigning national champions.

For his part, LBC Batangas coach Nash Racela said they are ready to face the Volunteers.

"The hometown crowd would definitely be a factor, but we’ve been through similar situations before," said Racela. "The guys played well during practice and I hope they stay that way for the knockout game."

The game will be telecast live over National Broadcasting Network 4.

The winner of the Olongapo-LBC Batangas tussle would meet the victor of the RCPI Negros-Professional Davao knockout semifinal being played at presstime.