Petron looks to end slide, takes on Alaska at Hoops Dome

PETRON BLAZE Boosters head coach Renato “Ato” Agustin is hoping that this Southern sojourn will give them their confidence back as his team takes on the Alaska Aces today at the Hoops Dome in Lapu-Lapu City.

Agustin, who steered the squad to the title in the Governor’s Cup, has seen his team lose three straight games after opening the All-Filipino Conference with three consecutive wins.

This has raised concern among the San Miguel-owned squad but Agustin is optimistic that they will manage to correct their mistakes in today’s game.

“We really want to get our confidence back,” said Agustin in a press conference yesterday. “The only way to do that is to correct our mistakes like getting back on defense, getting second chance points among many others. Hopefully, these will get us rolling again.”

Incidentally, the losing spell came after their team building session which happened after their third straight win.

“I know it’s weird but it happened. We need to get our aggressiveness back and maintain it. Nag-relax kasi kami eh and now we need everybody to step up,” added Agustin.

Petron will have to make do without Cebuano hotshot Dondon Hontiveros, who injured his ACL and is expected to be out until May of next year. The former University of Cebu stalwart added that he has yet to get surgery on his knee and is still awaiting word from his doctors.

Also on the injured list are Jay Washington, who will be out for an undetermined amount of time, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, who will return in January and rookie Chris Lutz, who is out with a strained hamstring.

Petron has signed up another Cebuano in former Mandaue point guard Axel Doruelo. The Boosters also have another Cebuano in their stead in former UC wingman Moncrief Rogado. However, Rogado remains on the reserve list and will not see action today.

PAINTERS EXTEND RUN

The Rain or Shne Elasto Painters padded their winning run to four with a 96-75 trouncing of the winless Shopinas.com Clickers.

The win tightened the Painters’ hold of the solo leadership as they improved to 6-1 (win-loss).

The Clickers stayed winless after seven games./CORRESPONDENT JONAS PANERIO WITH EDITORIAL ASSISTANT CALVIN D. CORDOVA