1997 Sta. Lucia Realtors season

The 1997 Sta. Lucia Realtors season was the 5th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Off-season transactions

Summary

After a four-year coaching stint with the Purefoods ballclub, coach Chot Reyes accepted the offer of Sta. Lucia as their new head coach at the beginning of the season. The Realtors finish second in a tie with Purefoods after the eliminations of the All-Filipino Cup, failed to land into one of the two finals berth, placed third by winning over San Miguel in a one-game playoff.

Kenny Redfield, the two-time best import, who led Formula Shell to the Commissioner's Cup finals last season, was hired by the Realtors in the second conference. Sta.Lucia were tied with three other teams at the top with 6 wins and 4 losses. ^[1] In the semifinal round, the Realtors bowed out and could only win two of their eight matches.

The Realtors were off to a hot start in the Governor's Cup, winning their first three games behind import Sean Green, ^[2] a second round pick of the Indiana Pacers in 1991. Sta.Lucia finish on the top of the standings again and tied with San Miguel Beermen and Alaska Milk, which both made it to the semifinal round outright with a better quotient over the Realtors, who had to beat Gordon's Gin to qualify into the final four. Sta.Lucia were swept in three games by defending champion Alaska Milkmen in the best-of-five semifinal series.

Occurrences

During the Governors Cup, after Sta.Lucia lost to Alaska by one point on October 28, ^[3] coach Chot Reyes resigned a few days later and gave up his position to assistant coach Adonis Tierra, who will handle the Realtors on interim basis, reports had it that Reyes' temperaments have cause him his job at Sta.Lucia and the players' boycott against their coach led to his departure.

Roster

Pos. No. Player School G 1 Jason Webb De La Salle F 3 Chris Jackson San Bernardino G 5 Gilbert Reyes, Jr Ateneo de Manila G 9 Elmer Cabahug University of Visayas G 12 Jose Francisco FEU G 14 Gerald Esplana FEU C 15 Expedito Falcasantos Cebu Central Colleges F 16 Dennis Espino UST C 38 Angelo David FEU F 57 Romeo Dela Rosa South Western University C 72 Zandro Limpot De La Salle F 81 Gabby Cui Ateneo de Manila C 23 Kenny Redfield (C) Michigan State University F 7 Sean Green (G) Iona College Position Name/s Head coach:  Chot Reyes / Adonis Tierra Assistants: Joshua Villapando / Ricky Cui (C) - Commissioner's Cup Import, (G) - Governor's Cup Import '

References