Beermen tap Roger Yap for ABL tourney

MANILA, Philippines - Fresh from besting rival AirAsia Philippine Patriots in a literal mano y mano over the weekend, San Miguel Beer continued to beef up its roster in the third AirAsia ASEAN Basketball League as it acquired seasoned guard Roger Yap of sister team B-Meg Derby Ace in the PBA.

Yap, an 11-year veteran in the pro league, was plucked from the Llamados to reinforce the backcourt of the Beermen, currently ranked third in the ABL with 7-3 behind the Patriots (7-2) and Westports Malaysia Dragons (7-2).

The Cebuano playmaker, whose playing time with B-Meg has dwindled lately, will officially join SMB’s practices starting today, with the possibility of making his debut on Saturday when the Beermen host the Chang Thailand Slammers at the Ynares Sports Arena.

“Of course, Roger is a good player, without a doubt. But we’ll have to slowly bring him on and let him pick up our system especially since we’re working on gaining chemistry (at present). But I don’t feel he’ll have difficulty adjusting because he is a smart player,” SMB coach Bobby Parks told The STAR yesterday.

SMB has been infusing new faces in its lineup recently. Aries Dimaunahan himself is quite new, having joined the Beermen a couple of weeks ago, together with John Ferriols, another veteran player. The Beermen also changed imports last week, with Jarrid Famous replacing the injured Doug Thomas, making chemistry a  concern for Parks.

The 6-foot Yap was at The Arena the other day when the Beermen scored a 68-66 triumph over the Patriots in a highly-intense duel that saw Dimaunahan and Patriots import Anthony Johnson getting ejected for fighting. At presstime, the ABL has yet to hand out a decision on whether the two, or the others who cleared the bench to join the fracas, will be slapped with suspensions. 

The emotional triumph over the former ABL champs, a repeat of SMB’s 78-70 verdict in the first round, allowed the Beermen to close in on their pacesetting victims.

“It’s a chance for us to try to climb back up the standings, because if we lost, we may move down to fourth. Now we’re at second, at least we’re back in the running again,” said Parks.