Visminda guns for finals seat tonight

Defending titlist Visminda-Country will try to assure itself of outright passage to the championship round of the 2004 UFO-San Miguel Cup when it battles last year’s finalist Cabalen-RP Construction starting at 7pm tonight at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.

Visminda is the hottest team in town, scoring victories against FASA-PABA-CNC Inc. (97-87) and SIP-Verizon (88-84) the last two weeks to move within a game of barging into the finals.

Cabalen, for its part, saved its season last Saturday when it outlasted FASA in overtime, 125-120. The Transamerica and EC Communications-backed team bowed to SIP-Verizon in the first week of the round-robin playoffs, 112-84.

Coach Boy Garcia’s boys could avoid a complicated two- or three-way tie atop the standings if it dispatches Cabalen tonight. Cabalen, on the other hand, is aiming for no less than a win to keep its finals hopes alive.

Visminda could summon a plethora of big men to battle Cabalen’s equally stratospheric frontline.

Veteran center Ed Cosino is a terror inside and the duo of power forwards Danny Bicera and Emil De Belen are always tough as nails inside. Banjo Basila creates matchup problems in either forward positions and human pogo stick Jawn Joyner can hurt you both on defense and on offense.

Cabalen is expected to counter with scoring ace Ronald Delos Reyes, youthful slotman Ryan Mendoza, key reserve Rico Canlas and veterans Jhun Alipio and Alex Ocampo.

While Visminda probably has the slight edge inside, Cabalen claims ownership of the backcourt especially with last year’s regular season MVP Pando Muleta done for the season because of a heart ailment.

Coach Elmer Pineda, also an excellent point guard during his heydays, has the luxury of going big or small in his guard rotation.

Slasher extraordinaire Randy Arnedo can play the point as good as anyone, while backup Jun Sinca has proven he too can be relied upon in pressure situations. Jayson Gatdula could also serve as a sparkplug off the bench.

Shooting guard Paul Magcalas is always deadeye from outside, while Joseph Gatdula brings veteran smarts to the position.

Tasked to fill the big shoes of Muleta is former Mobil guard Bing Marasigan, who like Muleta, has a mean shot from afar but lacks the latter’s penetrating skills. Second-year players John Artates and Chris Domingo will also try to bring toughness and defense in the position for Visminda.

Ageless gunslinger Dado Vistal and Basila can also be assigned to bring down the ball from time to time and this is where Visminda is at its deadliest. Vistal and Basila are match up problems as the two can shoot from outside and post up their smaller defenders inside.

On Sunday, SIP tries to rebound from last week’s loss to Visminda when it goes up against FASA, which is virtually out of the finals but still has a minute chance of advancing if it beats SIP and Cabalen losses to Visminda. Game time is 6pm.