THE Davao Occidental Cocolife Tigers improved its standing to 3-3 after demolishing Cebu City Sharks, 71-64, in the resumption of the 2018 Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Datu Cup at the Strike Gymnasium in Bacoor City Tuesday evening.
Billy Robles sank 14 points while Bonbon Custodio and Leo Najorda chipped in identical 13 points to lead the offense for the Don Dulay-coached Tigers.
Patrick Jan Cabahug, meanwhile, scored for Cebu, which dropped to a 5-1 win-loss card, as John Michael Abad added 13.
Tigers assistant coach Arvin Bonleon, in a Facebook interview yesterday, said, "Nag-adjust lang kami sa rotation. Nagsabay kami nang tatlong bigs like (Jay) Cabañog, Najorda and (Mark) Yee para ma control namin yung boards at makakuha kami nang mga mismatch kapag mag man to man sila."
The team will have a longer break before they play against the 2-3 Pampanga Lanterns on August 25.
Bonleon said Pampanga is also a strong team but they will stick to their man to man defense.
"Medyo malalim naman ang bench namin then markman namin yung (Michael) Juico nang pampanga kasi number one scoring nang MPBL yun. Offensively, kailangan naming ma-break ang zone defense kapag mag zone sila. Kapag mag man to man naman sila marami kaming advantage sa mga mismatches sa lahat nang position," the Dabawenyo coach said.
Juico averages 26 points per game in the current season.
Bonleon also said that the players are well-conditioned. "Minomonitor namin mga playing time nila after the game kung how many minutes nilaro para pag resume nang ensayo alam namin kung anong drills lang puwede i apply sa mga players na mahabang nilarong oras."
The Tigers will come home to host the Valenzuela CDO Idol Cheesdog on August 30 at the University of Southeastern Philippines (Usep) Gym in Davao City.