MANILA, Philippines - Trace-Laguna Stallions hosts defending champion Misamis Oriental today as the Laguna leg of the Smart Liga Pilipinas Conference III starts at the Stallions’ gym at Trace College in Los Baños, Laguna.
Gametime is set at 6 p.m. with the Meteors raring to reassert their mastery over the Stallions whom they beat, 70-58, in Conference II’s Laguna leg finals.
Forward Taguig and Gen. Santos collide in the 4 p.m. opener.
But the Stallions vowed to even things up with the visiting squad, hoping to draw the best from guards Alex Angeles and Khiel Misa along with center Ron Capati and swingmen Rob Sanz, RB Mangahas, Jan Villaver and Glenn Bolocon and new recruit Roel Hugnatan.
They will be up against the talented MisOr squad composed of Patrick Cabahug, Lyndon Gudez, Eder Saldua, Ramil Tagupa, Mark Moreno, Mark Kong, Ian Daja and Philip Butel.
Based on the latest Liga Tour standings, Laguna (19 points), Taguig (18 points) and Misamis Oriental (11 points) occupy fourth to sixth places after playing two legs each.
The three teams can surge past the second-ranked Quezon Red Oilers (23 points) and third running Smart-Pampanga Buddies (21 points) that both have completed three legs.
Leg champions earn 10 points while runners-up get five, third placers three points and a point for the fourth placer. In addition, they earn a point for each game won during the preliminaries plus a two-point bonus should they sweep all three preliminary games. The top two teams will dispute the championship this Saturday.