1998 Mobiline Phone Pals season

The 1998 Mobiline Phone Pals season was the 9th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Off-season transactions

Summary

Mobiline coach Tommy Manotoc has hired three-time MVP William Adornado as one of his assistant coaches at the start of the season. The Phone Pals were blown out by Gordon's Gin, 69-93, in their first game in the All-Filipino Cup on February 3. Mobiline bounced back with a win over Purefoods, 67-64, in their next game on February 8, ^[1] after a 3-2 won-loss start, ^[2] the Phone Pals lost four in a row that put them on a brink, they won over San Miguel, 89-77 on March 8, to keep their hopes alive, ^[3] but lost their last game to already-ousted Formula Shell, 76-81 in Legaspi City on March 14.

Beginning the Commissioner's Cup on May 22, former Purefoods coach Eric Altamirano signed a four-year contract to coach the Mobiline Phone Pals, Altamirano's contract with Purefoods expired last March 31. The Phone Pals lost their first two games with Alex Fraser as their import, Fraser was replaced by their original choice Terquin Mott, who put in big numbers, scoring 50 points in one game and averaged 36.3 points in nine games he played, somehow his behavior at times when he ran wild on the floor couldn't help the team finish no higher than sixth place.

Mobiline finally captured a PBA title in a "bonus" tournament called Centennial Cup, the Phone Pals defeated Formula Shell, 67-66, in the one-game finale. The perfect combination of imports Silas Mills and Artemus McClary led Mobiline to the Governor's Cup finals in a rematch with Formula Shell, the Phone Pals played without national team members Jeffrey Cariaso and Andy Seigle for the whole conference, they lost in the championship series that went into a full limit of seven games.

Awards

• Silas Mills was named Governor's Cup Best Import.
• Patrick Fran was voted the season's Most Improved Player.

Roster

Pos. No. Player School G 3 Antonio Espinosa De La Salle G 8 Alfonso Solis University of Visayas G 9 Jose Francisco (A) FEU F 10 Alvin Teng Arellano University G 12 Glenn Capacio FEU F 14 Eric Reyes Ateneo de Manila G 17 Patrick Fran UST F 22 Jeffrey Cariaso Sonoma State College G 24 Merwin Castelo San Beda F 33 Joselito Martin (A) NCBA C 52 Andy Seigle University of New Orleans F 81 Gabby Cui Ateneo de Manila F 20 Alex Fraser (C) University of Miami F 32 Terquin Mott (C) Coppin State University G 1 Silas Mills (G) Utah State University G 25 Artemus McClary (G) Jacksonville University G 16 Lowell Briones (T) University of Visayas F 4 Braulio Lim (M) UE Position Name/s Head coach:  Eric Altamirano Assistants: Ryan Gregorio / Frankie Lim (M) - Moved to Alaska, (C) - Commissioners Cup Import, (G) - Governors Cup Import, (A) - Acquired via trade, (T) - Traded '

References