FOR the first time in league history, all six teams of the Asean Basketball League (ABL) will converge upon one venue for the inaugural ABL Hoops Fest, which will be staged from March 15 to 17 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The ABL Hoops Fest will see all six teams descend upon Vietnam for three days for bearing games as well as other exciting contests. The matchups for this event were made via a random draw during the pre-season. Points obtained during this event will count towards the teams’ total points for the regular season.
The San Miguel Beermen are set to play two games during this event. First, they take on the Singapore Slingers on March 15 before playing against the hometown Heat on March 17.
In addition, several Filipinos will be competing in the three-point shootout set for March 16. These are Cebuano sniper and former University of the Visayas Baby Lancer Patrick Cabahug of the Westport Malaysia Dragons, former Ateneo ace Jai Reyes of the Saigon Heat and reigning league MVP Leo Avenido of the Beermen.
Also competing are Lim Sheng Yu of the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers, Mario Wuysang of defending champion Indonesia Warriors, and Wacharapong Thongsri of the Chang Thailand Slammers.
San Miguel import Gabe Freeman and Fil-Tongan Moala Tautuaa of the Westports Malaysia Dragons banner the cast seeing action in the league’s first slam dunk contest. They will be competing against Chris Daniels of the Indonesia Warriors, David Palmer of the Saigon Heat, Delvin Goh of the JobStreet.com Singapore Slingers, and Wutipong Dasom of the Chang Thailand Slammers. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio