Garvo Lanete, the only boy among the men in the Philippine Five, provided the youthful exuberance the Filipinos needed against a young foe last night.
Lanete, the only homegrown amateur in the star-studded Philippine quintet, gunned down 21 points coming off the bench and was the brightest performer in a 99-68 thumping of Taipei-B in the 34th William Jones Cup at the Taipei PE College gym here.
The Filipinos remained undefeated after two games to gain a share of the early lead with Korea, another rock-solid side which ran roughshod over Lebanon, 94-78, in an earlier game.
Lanete literally did the dirty work for the Philippine team Saturday night after a win over Jordan by taking the dirty playing uniforms of his fellow players to the laundry, which, coach Chot Reyes said, was part of his duties as a rookie on the squad.
In their second game, it came as a surprise for most that he carried the team in the breakaway second period, shooting 10 of his total as the Philippines opened up a 53-32 lead going into the lemontime break.
“He (Lanete) is really good and has a big fighting heart,” Reyes said of Lanete, who took the dirty linen Saturday night to the cleaners together with fellow PH team rookies Jay-R Reyes and Fil-Am Matt Rosser.
“That’s part of being a rookie in any team,” Reyes, smiling. “But today, he gave us the big spark that we needed.” Team Philippines takes a break today and will plunge back into action the following day against the Koreans, who are listed as one of the teams to beat here mainly because of imports Juan Pattillo and Garrett Stutz.
The duo combined for 35 points in the Korean win and three others also scored in twin digits as Lebanon took a second straight loss and is an unlikely side sharing the cellar with Taipei-B.
“Even if we won this game by a big margin, we have no illusions about the coming games,” Reyes said. “We will be playing six straight tough matches and it is important that we put this game behind us and prepare starting with Korea on Tuesday.”
Meanwhile, back in the Philippines, Petron Blaze made 6-foot-9 Cebu native June Mar Fajardo as the No. 1 overall pick in the Draft, with the only surprise in the first round of the proceedings coming also from Petron, which tabbed Alex Mallari third overall.
The powerhouse Boosters own No. 1 and No. 3 and exercised both choices to fill up spots that would eventually be vacated by veterans in the team.
Calvin Abueva of NCAA champion San Sebastian was picked second by Alaska even as Meralco got hard-working Fil-American Cliff Hodge at No. 4.
A trade during the proceedings took place and Barako Bull, picking fifth, grabbed Aldrech Ramos before shipping him to B-Meg. The Llamados, in turn, gave up its No. 9 pick to newcomer Global Port, which snagged Vic Manuel.
Part of that deal had B-Meg giving up third-string off-guard Val Acuna to Global Port.
Crowd-darling Barangay Ginebra, meanwhile, also got a lot stronger after the Gin Kings took Fil-American Chris Ellis at No. 6.
Chris Tiu, the smart point guard out of Ateneo and member of the original Smart Gilas program, landed with Rain or Shine at No. 7.
The next PBA Season opens on Sept. 30 with the Philippine Cup where Talk ‘N Text is the defending champion. The Tropang Texters will actually try to win the event for the third straight year but will be handled by Norman Black for the first time.
Rookie Lanete sparks Philippines to victory over Taipei-B
