5 out-of-town games spark full PBA PH Cup sked

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MANILA— Cities familiar to PBA fans will once again stage games, while Iloilo City and Dumaguete will get their own dose of PBA action as the Philippine Cup schedule for 2018 was released on Friday, two days before the official start.

Iloilo City, which became known for hosting the Megavoltz in the MBA, will be the site of the first non-Mega Manila game of the season as San Miguel and TNT collide there on January 13.

Three Saturdays later on Feb. 3, Ginebra and NLEX will grace the court of the Ibalong Centrum for Recreation in Legazpi.

The league will then make a stop at Calasiao, Pangasinan as Rain Or Shine and Magnolia battle at the Calasiao Sports Conplex on February 10.

The Beermen will have another road trip, this time in Dumaguete on Feb. 17 against the Alaska Aces, while the Hotshots will battle the Meralco Bolts the following Saturday at the Xavier University Gym in Cagayan de Oro.

In a related development, the Dec. 27 doubleheader in which Phoenix takes on Kia at 4:15 p.m. and Meralco and SMB slug it out at 7 p.m. will take place at the Ynares Center in Antipolo.

Also, the finals rematch between the Beermen and the Barangay is set for Jan. 28 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, the tail-end of a string of three consecutive twinbills and four fight cards in five nights there.

Meanwhile, to give way to Gilas’ FIBA World Cup Qualifiers battle against Japan, the league will not hold games on Feb. 25, the day when the WCQ game will occur at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.