“I asked the team to come out with more focus in the second half and we got the result that we wanted,” said coach Bobby Parks after his Beermen rallied from an early 16-32 deficit.
San Miguel’s American imports Richard Jeter (16 points) and Dalron Johnson (13 points and 11 rebounds) also came through in the fund-raiser serving as a preseason tournament for six of the eight teams in the Asean Basketball League (ABL).
Banchero, a 6-foot-1 Filipino-Italian point guard, joined the Beermen just last month after starring for the Seattle Pacific University in the NCAA Division II where he bagged the All-American Player of the Year award.
The AirAsia Philippine Patriots, last season’s runner-up, are also seeing action to gear up for the regional home-and-away league set to kick off on Jan. 14.
“It’s going to be a wide open race,” said coach Glenn Capacio before his Patriots tangled with the Saigon Heat last night.
The Patriots and the Heat are bunched with the Bangkok Cobras, while the Beermen and the Warriors are grouped with the Singapore Slingers.
After a single round, the top team from each group will clash in the Finals on Sunday.
Other Filipino cagers suiting up as imports are Jerick Cañada, Harold Sta Cruz and Ricky Ricafuente for Indonesia and Donald Dulay and Ian Mazo for Singapore.