PAGADIAN, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR — Jumbo Plastic-Basilan has just entered the 2021 Chooks-to-Go Pilipinas VisMin Super Cup record books, Monday night.
This as the Peace Riders demolished the skidding Kapatagan by 34, 118-84, at the Pagadian City Gymnasium here.
That 118-point performance shattered the record set by MisOr just last Sunday with 111 points. Basilan also produced 41 points in the third salvo, also a new standard in the regional pro league.
But setting landmarks in scoring isn’t new to the teams handled by head coach Jerson Cabiltes.
Back in September 16, 2019, BRT Sumisip Basilan-St. Clare torched the net in Paco Arena on their way to a 180-117 victory over Hyperwash in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup.
That, obviously, set a new record for most points scored in D-League history.
What’s more surprising was the record they surpassed was also their own, a 161-122 thrashing of Black Mamba Energy Drink.
So what is the secret to scoring a lot of points? The complete opposite of it – defense.
“Actually, those records I don’t see them as offensive explosions. It’s more of defense bago nagkaroon ng offense,” said Cabiltes.
“The goal is always to play man-to-man full-court defense to force the opponent to commit turnovers.”
Cabiltes’ teams have always been built to play hard defense en route to easy offense.
Just like in their campaign in the Chooks-to-Go MPBL Lakan Cup, then-Basilan Steel ranked fifth in the 31-team field in steals with an average of 9.5, which led to an average of 15.7 fastbreak points per game, good for third in the league.
Despite the dominant showing Monday night against the Buffalo Braves, Cabiltes is not letting his guard down.
“‘Yung sa team ko nga hindi ako natuwa sa laro namin against Iligan kasi parang nag dip down ‘yung energy at effort so we want to sustain those for 40 minutes.”
