HOW far the Cebu City Sharks-Casino Ethyl Alcohol have improved will be known when they face the formidable San Juan Knights in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Datu Cup 2018 at the Fil-Oil Flying V Arena in San

Juan, Metro Manila on Saturday night, Nov. 10.

The streaking Sharks have injected life to their season with a four-game win streak after a sloppy start to improve to a 5-8 (win-loss) record. Cebu City is currently at 10th place in the South Division standing and needs to continue to win to secure one of the eight playoff spots.

The Sharks will have to face an acid test against the Knights, who have been impressive in this season with a 10-3 slate for third place in the North Division.

Cebu City head coach Norberto “Titing” Manalili said that the home crowd would be one of the challenges for them in this game but they will make it up with their defense.

“It’s a tough game for us; they will have the homecourt crowd. What we will do is to sustain our plays and our defense. Our defense would be the key,” he said.

Manalili believes that the team can sneak out a win against the Knights especially since the players’ morale is currently high following a 56-53 win over the Pasig Pirates last week to extend their winning streak to four games.

“Our players have adjusted on our system. Coming from four straight wins our morale is high,” he said.

The Sharks had a recent reinforcement in the guard rotation with the addition of playmaker and former Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) MVP Jaybie Mantilla.

But Mantilla, a product of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars, will not be playing against the Knights. Mantilla just recently steered his team to the 2018 Cesafi finals.

“He has joined our practice for only two days. He’s still adjusting on the team’s system. But on our next game I will let him play,” Manalili said of Mantilla. RSC