THE Pacquiao Powervit Pilipinas Aguilas debuted with a thrilling, 79-78 victory over the Mono Vampire Basketball Club of Thailand in the ASEAN Basketball League on Thursday night at the University of Southeastern Philippines Gym in Davao City.
The Aguilas leaned heavily on their two reinforcements – former San Miguel import Arizona Reid and ex-University of the East big man Charles Mammie – to hack out the hard-earned victory. Reid, fresh off leading the Beermen to the Governors’ Cup title in the PBA a few months back, scored 21 points, pulled down 12 rebounds and issued four assists while Mammie, the hulking center from Sierra Leone, had 14 markers and 14 boards.
The team of boxing legend Manny Pacquiao also got significant contributions from the locals with former PBA MVP Willie Miller adding 12 and former pro Val Acuna chipping in 10.
The Aguilas trailed by 12 late in the third but Acuna sparked a 10-0 blast with two makes from rainbow country to pull within two, 53-55, heading to the final canto.
Mono Vampire’s Anthony McClain led the way for the Thai squad with a huge double-double of 28 points and 14 rebounds.
The Aguilas gun for their second win today as they take on the Westport Malaysia Dragons, a team that features Fil-foreign talents Jason Brickman and Matthew
Wright, another Division 1 NCAA player from St. Bonaventure University.