RAIN OR SHINE guard Chris Tiu is arriving in Singapore on Saturday as Mighty Sports Apparel Philippines presses its bid for a final berth in the 2016 Merlion Cup basketball tournament.
Getting the green light from Rain or Shine owners Raymund Yu and Terry Que after the Painters failed to advance to the quarterfinals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup, Tiu hopes to help younger brother Charles win his first international trophy as a coach.
This marks the first time that Xavier School’s deadly trio of Tiu, TY Tang and Joseph Yeo are playing together since their celebrated high-school years.
The Philippine squad beat the tough Seoul Samsung Thunders, 92-87, on Wednesday night at the OCBC Arena behind the big games of imports Alford Thornton, Dewarick Spencer and Hamady N’Dyiaye.
The team played the Westports Malaysia Dragons on Friday night.
A victory over the Dragons will push Mighty Sports into the semifinals of the Merlion Cup, which is making a comeback after a 20-year hiatus under the aegis of the Basketball Association of Singapore.
Mighty Sports, supported by HC Technology Pte. Ltd., Huishi International Group Co. Ltd., Cebuana Lhuillier and Scratch It, is hoping to win back-to-back international titles after dominating the William Jones Cup in Taiwan in July.
Mighty Sports enlisted former Gilas center Marcus Douthit, a naturalized Filipino, to bolster its ranks, along with former collegiate standouts Kiefer Ravena, Gelo Alolino and Edrick Ferrer, Gabriel and Raphael Banal and Frank Golla.
They are backed by Filipino-Canadian Matthew Wright and Filipino-Americans Jason Brickman and Jason Deutchman.