Powerade plans another push to the limelight–and it won’t be easy

Powerade, a team that has battled through challenges on and off the court, braces for its toughest challenge yet.

With their offense clicking, the Tigers pummeled the Air21 Express, 121-92, Sunday night, but somehow, things still aren’t as easy as it looksfor Powerade.

The team sits on third place at 4-3 with two games left in the elimination round.

“Looking ahead, it’s really going to be down-the wire towards the last two games that we have, we have to win at least one, better if two,” said Powerade mentor Bo Perasol.

Easier said than done as the Tigers perhaps have the hardest last two games among the remaining squads left vying for a playoff spot.

Powerade faces Alaska, a team fresh off a win, on Friday before finishing its elimination round campaign on Sunday against powerhouse B-Meg, which is raring to bounce back after losing to Rain or Shine.

“For all the distractions, it was really difficult for us to focus but they still believe that we really have what it takes to win in this tournament,” Perasol said.

“So they just played together. I challenged them that the little things are going to matter in this game. I think they responded well to the challenge but there’s still so much difficulty ahead in those last two games,” added Perasol.

The Tigers played minus immense pressure last conference as the team went all the way to the Finals before losing to the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters in five games.

This time’s different. After that successful run, the expectation rose and now, perhaps anything short of a finals berth is a failure.

For Perasol, pressure is a good thing.

“I’m okay with pressure. Pressure is for the better. It’s a challenge for us to be better. We just have to do what we can with what we have,” Perasol said.

And what they have with scoring maching Gary David and prized rookies Marcio Lassiter and JV Casio are vital pieces not every team has.

“No question Gary David is the best scorer today if he wants to he can score but it all boils down again if are we going to win with those kinds of numbers. Is he going to share, which he did (tonight),” Perasol told INQUIRER.net.

David had his usual numbers with 32 points.

“But it doesn’t necessarily mean that if he scores that much we’re going to win. And the team understands that,” Perasol said.

Lassiter added 22 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals while Casio played limited minutes and finished with measly six points.

The Tigers are equipped with one of the best offensive weapons in their

Big Three giving Perasol luxury to at least focus more on the team’s weaknesses.

“We just need to be at least decent in our defense and we will really make things hard for other teams. Our offense is almost automatic. We have plenty of offense in our team but defense will take us somewhere,” said Perasol.