MAGNOLIA is putting premium on size and inside presence as it tapped former University of San Diego big man Terrell Brown Soares as import for the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup set to unwrap on March 11.
Listed at 6-10, Brown Soares arrived last Saturday according to coach LA Tenorio.
The rookie Magnolia mentor said the 27-year-old American joined the Hotshots’ practice on Monday.
Brown-Soares is fresh off a stint in Poland’s professional league where he played for Krosno, averaging 9.5 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 11 games.
The Hotshots will try to redeem themselves under Tenorio’s first conference as coach. The Magnolia side got booted out by eventual runners-up TNT Tropang 5G in the quarterfinals of the Season 50 Philippine Cup won by the San Miguel Beermen.
Brown Soares is seen as a reliable defensive anchor who can provide the intimidating presence in the mid-season conference where each team can tap an import with no height limit.
The Hotshots, then reinforced by Ricardo Ratliffe, bombed out of the quarterfinals in the same conference last season after getting axed by the NorthPort Batang Pier.
So far, other PBA squads with confirmed imports include NLEX, which tapped Cady Lallane, Phoenix (James Dickey) while Ginebra is bringing back resident import Justin Brownlee.
Meanwhile, a souped-up Meralco side guns for an all-important victory when the Bolts resume their East Asia Super League Season 3 home-and-away group stage match against Japan B.League powerhouse squad Ryukyu Golden Kings on Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum.
The Bolts collide with the Kings at 7:40 p.m. with the PBA Season 48 Philippine Cup champion out to close the final playdate for the group stage with its fourth win in six games.
Meralco got a crucial reload after getting a lending hand from PBA sister team NLEX, which loaned its incoming Commissioner’s Cup import Cady Lallane to the Bolts for the EASL match.