1978 U-Tex Wranglers season

1978 U-Tex Wranglers season
Head coach Tommy Manotoc
All-Filipino Conference results
Record 7–8
(.467)
Place N/A
Playoff finish N/A
Open Conference results
Record 19–4
(.826)
Place 1st
Playoff finish 1
Invitational Conference results
Record 2–5
(.286)
Place 4th
Playoff finish 4
U-Tex Wranglers seasons
1977

The 1978 U-Tex Wranglers season was the 4th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Championship

The U-Tex Wranglers won the Open Conference title with a 3-0 sweep off Crispa 400s, after winning the series opener by a point in overtime, 95-94. U-Tex won games 2 and 3 going away, 100-93 and 104-96, to finally break the stranglehold of Crispa and Toyota for winning titles, becoming the first team outside of the two ballclubs to win a PBA crown.

Summary

First Conference: U-Tex build up its line-up as coach Tommy Manotoc got two talents from the Wranglers' amateur ballclub, Solidenims, Renato Lobo and Anthony Dasalla, both amateur standouts teaming up with veterans Lim Eng Beng, Rudolf Kutch, Jimmy Noblezada and Ricky Pineda, U-Tex entered the season as one of the darkhorses, after the first round of eliminations, the Wranglers were tied with Great Taste in third place with identical 4-3 cards, but U-Tex was ousted from the semifinals by the Billy Robinson led-Filmanbank in a playoff game wherein both teams ended the elimination round with a 7-7 won-loss record along with Tanduay, the ESQs advanced by a higher quotient, U-Tex lost to Filmanbank, 96-103, but not without the gallant stand put up by guard Lim Eng Beng. [1]

Second Conference: Since U-Tex did not qualify for the finals in the All-Filipino Conference, it had the option to use two imports simultaneously, the Wranglers had Byron "Snake" Jones playing at center and Henry Williams to quarterback and shoot, after four games, coach Manotoc had to replaced Williams in favor of Glenn McDonald, the formidable combination of Jones, McDonald and Beng had U-Tex topping the elimination round with 11-3 card, and breezed into the finals with a 5-1 record in the semis, the Wranglers made history by surprisingly scoring a clean sweep over the Crispa Redmanizers in the championship for their first PBA title.

Third Conference: U-Tex finished with a 2-2 card at the end of the eliminations among 5 teams qualified for the Invitational conference, lost to Crispa by a 3-0 sweep in their battle for third place.

Roster

ROSTER # POS HT
Romualdo Cabading Center-Forward 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Edward Camus Center 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Anthony Dasalla 9 Center-Forward 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Roy Deles Guard 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Romeo Frank 15 Center-Forward 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Rudolf Hines 11 Guard 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Rudolf Kutch 13 Center-Forward 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Lim Eng Beng 14 Guard 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Renato Lobo 7 Forward 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Alfonso Mora Forward 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Jaime Noblezada 8 Forward 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Ricardo Pineda 6 Guard 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Byron Jones Import 33 Forward-Center 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Glenn McDonald Import 20 Forward 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Henry Williams Import 3 Forward 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)

References

  1. ↑ U-Tex Wranglers@1978 PBA Annual

External links