Sirius Star Pilipinas players and team officials pose for a group photo. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The American-backed elite basketball team, Sirius Star Pilipinas returns for their ninth Philippine tour with a series of highly-entertaining hardcourt action.
Sirius Star Pilipinas headed by veteran head coach Albert Alocillo and team captain Anthony Winningham will entertain various cities and towns around the country until October.
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Exhibition game in Balamban
Their first exhibition match starts in Cebu against the town’s all-star team later tonight at 8:00 PM at the Exasperanza Binghay Memorial Sports Complex.
Earlier this year, Sirius Star Pilipinas had a separate tour visiting various cities and towns in Visayas and Mindanao.
This time, they are expanding to Manila with the mission to showcase American talents and help elevate the basketball standard in the country through clinics and exhibition games.
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Expanding to Manila
“Our local players can see how these Americans play and practice. At the same time, they share their basketball knowledge through our clinics depending on our host LGU or municipality. We also want to promote local tourism through these American players who will post the place we visit on their social media,” said Alocillo who also coached the UST growling Tiger PBA D league squad.
Alocillo also added that American players like Winningham love to return to the Philippines to showcase their talent with the hopes of getting discovered by local teams that look for foreign players.
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Sirius Star Pilipinas players
Sirius Star Pilipinas’ complete roster is comprised of Jaymes Savage, Jaelen Brown, Xanthanus Pierro, Amaree Steward, Quinan Rieves, Joe Vinales, Donovan Ryland, Andre Walker, Leondre Townsen, and Tood Spotswood.
After their Balamban game, the team will face the University of the Visayas (UV) Green Lancers and the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) Jaguars, IRESOP, and all-star selection squads of San Remigio and Alegria for the rest of their September exhibition games in Cebu.
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Davao, Bacolod, Manila, Leyte
The team then heads to Davao and Tacloban for another series of exhibition games and basketball clinics. They will wrap up their tour with another set of games in Bacolod, Manila, and Leyte.
Sirius Star Pilipinas’ complete schedule is posted on their Facebook page.