THE Casino Ethyl Alcohol Cebu City Sharks are excited to showcase the Cebuano brand of basketball when they debut in Season 2 of the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL), which will kick off on June 12.

“Ninety-eight percent of our players are Bisaya,” said team manager Mark Castillo during the official launching in Robinsons Fuente yesterday.

The International Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (IPI)-backed team will leave on May 27 and will be based in Las Piñas. They will have two tune-up games in Manila before the start of the regional basketball tournament, founded by Sen. and eight-division world champion boxer Manny Pacquiao.

Head coach Gilbert Castillo said they will have a tune-up game against the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars today before playing two tune-up games against Manila teams.

“We will play Muntinlupa on June 1 for our first tune-up game. There’s no team yet for our second tune-up game,” said the Sharks’ bench tactician, who added that the game with Muntinlupa will be a good test.

“We can’t say yet how’s the personal conditioning of our players. We will see that once we play the tune-up game. The tune-up game against Muntinlupa will test the physical preparedness of our players,” he said.

The Sharks will play majority of the elimination games in Luzon. Cebuano fans, though, can check on the team’s games on ABS-CBN.

Representing the Cebu City Sharks are Mark Anthony Abadia, Francisco Arong Jr., Patrick Jan Cabahug, Caesar Ruba Catli, Alfred Codilla, Harold Corter, Enrico John Llanto, Jovanie Luz Jr., William Bill Mcaloney Jr., Victor Bongbong Nunez, Rhaffy Ocotbre, Ceasar Ian Ortega, Garciano Puerto Jr., Eric Rodriguez, Jon Dan Salvador, John Abad, Iron Suano, and Kevin Rey Villafranca. (RSC)