Win no. 3 will be at stake when Cignal-Ateneo and University of Santo Tomas clash on Thursday in the 2019 PBA D-League at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.
The UAAP rivals have been nothing short of impressive in the early goings of the tourney, making this Aspirants Group duel at 2 p.m. the must-see attraction in this loaded triple-header game day.
Thirdy Ravena is set to make his PBA D-League debut for the Blue Eagles after playing with Gilas Pilipinas in the sixth window of the 2019 Fiba World Cup Asian qualifiers.
The high-flying winger will reunite with Matt Nieto, Isaac Go, and Ivorian center Ange Kouame, who have held the fort for Cignal-Ateneo in its first two games, most recently in its 82-68 win over Family Mart-Enderun last Feb. 25.
But coach Tab Baldwin, maintains he is using this campaign as a chance for his wards to prove themselves worthy of their spots in the team.
"This is more just pure competition than a real team performance for our guys. We get to observe how our players compete. We can work on a lot of individual talents against these teams," said the American-Kiwi mentor.
It's more of the same for Growling Tigers coach Aldin Ayo, who is taking the PBA D-League as his gauge on how ready his crew is for the challenge of the top teams.
"Against Ateneo, susukatin lang namin kung hanggang saan na yung narating namin. We're just going to do our best. Right now kasi I can say Ateneo is the best collegiate team that we have right now," he said after fending off AMA, 113-108 last week."Good opportunity for us na makalaban sila this early. At least malalaman namin kung hanggang saan 'yung nararating namin. It will be a good game for us."
St. Clare College-Virtual Reality and Che'Lu Bar and Grill will play in the curtain-raiser at 12 noon, with both teams seeking to go up 2-0, while Family Mart-Enderun and Go for Gold-CSB are in the hunt for their first win when they juke it out at 4 p.m.
