By Adrian Stewart Co
San Miguel Beermen made adjustments to its Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) 3×3 tournament roster with the acquisition of Negrense forward Jhan McHale Nermal.
The Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental-native Nermal will be the fifth player in the Beermen’s 3×3 lineup replacing Daniel de Guzman, who was recently released by the squad.
The 6-foot-3 Nermal will join fellow Negrense Jeffrey Manday (Bacolod City) in Beermen’s 3×3 lineup aside from captain Louie Vigil, Raymond Austria and James Mangahas.
Nermal was a former standout of the STI-West Negros University before being recruited to play for Bulacan Kuyas during the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) Lakan Cup season.
The Negrense cager recently came from a stint with Burlington EOG Sports in the just-concluded Filbasket tournament in Subic where he averaged 10.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists as the starting power forward.
With Nermal likely to be activated, the Beermen is hoping to have a better finish in the second leg of the PBA 3×3 competition slated this November 24-25 at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City.
Nermal is also the sixth Western Visayas-based player in PBA 3×3 aside from Manday, Bacolodnons Tonino Gonzaga of Meralco Bolts, LA Revilla of NorthPort Batang Pier and Nico Paolo Javelona of Purefoods TJ Titans, and Ilonggo Jaypee Belencion of Limitless Appmasters.
The San Miguel Beer 3×3 is slotted in stacked Group A along with first leg champions TNT Tropang Giga, CAVITEX Braves, Sista Super Sealers and Zamboanga Valientes MLV.
In the first leg last weekend, the Beermen had a solid campaign in the group stage where they defeated NorthPort Batang Pier and CAVITEX Braves before losing to Platinum Karaoke.
The Beermen, which is being handled by Ilonggo mentor Boycie Zamar, failed to move past the quarterfinals round after being beaten by Platinum Karaoke, 9-8./ASC, WDJ