1994 Swift Mighty Meaties season

1994   Swift Mighty Meaties season
Head coach	Yeng Guiao Derrick Pumaren (Governors' Cup)
General Manager	Elmer Yanga
Owner	RFM Corporation
All Filipino Cup results
Record	13–11 (54.2%)
Place	4th
Playoff finish	Semifinals
Commissioner's Cup results
Record	12–11 (52.2%)
Place	3rd
Playoff finish	Semifinals
Governor's Cup results
Record	15–11 (57.7%)
Place	2nd
Playoff finish	Runner-up
Swift Mighty Meaties seasons
←  1993 1995  →

The 1994 Swift Mighty Meaties season was the 5th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Draft picks

Round	Pick	Player	College
1	3	Emmanuel Victoria	San Beda

Occurrences

When Swift lost to Coney Island, 89-101, at the start of the semifinal round of the All-Filipino Cup on April 19, ^[1] the players and coaching staff feel bad about the loss and vowed to shaved their heads if they lose again, the Swift players responded as the Mighty Meaties won five in a row to clinch a playoff for the finals berth. On May 6, the San Miguel Beermen ended their winning streak with a 97-87 victory. In their last semifinal outing against Coney Island on May 8, the Swift players and coaching staff showed up in bald-headed and scored a 92-84 victory over the Ice Cream Stars.

The defending Commissioner's Cup champions bring back Ronnie Thompkins and he led Swift to four straight wins until he got suspended for two games in an incident involving him and Pepsi Mega's Rey Cuenco. ^[2]

Swift lost two of their first three games in the Commissioner's Cup semifinals with Thompkins being injured and was replaced following Swift's loss to San Miguel on August 9. Thompkins' replacement was Stan Rose, a 1993 CBA first round draft pick. Rose played only one game and scored 31 points in Swift's 105-103 win over Shell, he was sent home in favor of their former import Bernard Thompson.

Coach Yeng Guiao resigned from his coaching position with Swift after the Commissioner's Cup and moved over to the Pepsi Mega camp as both teams swapped coaches. Pepsi Mega coach Derrick Pumaren becomes the new head coach of Swift beginning the Governor's Cup.

Notable dates

July 3: Swift rolled over lackluster Pepsi Mega, 96-90, and jumped to the solo lead in the Commissioner's Cup with their fourth straight victory. Import Ronnie Thompkins registered the first triple-double of the conference with 21 points, 14 rebounds and 16 assists. ^[3]

July 5: With import Ronnie Thompkins serving the first of his two-game suspensions, the defending champions rose to the occasion in carving out a 108-106 win over Tondeña 65 Rhum that showed up with the sweet-shooting new import Mitchell Wiggins, who debut with 62 points but hardly got local support. The victory by Swift preserve an unblemished slate of five wins without a loss. ^[4]

October 14: Import Jay Edwards scored 69 points and shot 13 triples as Swift defeated Tondeña 65 Rhum, 135-124. ^[5]

Runner-up finish

Swift had enlisted the services of Jay Edwards as their import in the Governor's Cup. Edwards played six games and put in fine numbers. However, the ballclub decided to replaced him with Herb Jones. The Mighty Meaties played the Alaska Milkmen in the Governor's Cup finals and they lost in the championship series in six games.

Main article: 1994 PBA Governors Cup Finals

Roster

1994 Swift Mighty Meaties roster

Players

Coaches

Pos. # POB Name Height Weight DOB (YYYY–MM–DD) From C 4 Bonel Balingit 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) Visayas G 8 Al Solis 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Visayas G 9 Boybits Victoria 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) San Beda F 10 Enrique Reyes 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Ateneo F 11 Nelson Asaytono 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Manila F 13 Elpidio Villamin 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) G 14 Rudy Distrito 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) UE G 15 Juancho Estrada 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Adamson G 16 Teroy Albarillo 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Mindanao F 18 Vergel Meneses 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) José Rizal F 24 Richard Bognot 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) C 35 Zaldy Realubit 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) USJ–R

Head coach Derrick Pumaren Assistant coach(es) Gabby Velasco Arturo Valenzona Legend (C) Team captain Injured

Recruited imports

Name	Tournament	No.	Pos.	Ht.	College	Duration
Ronnie Thompkins	Commissioner's Cup	44	Center-Forward	6"5'	Fort Hays State	June 19 to August 9
Stan Rose		3	Forward	6"4'	Weber State	August 14 (one game)
Bernard Thompson		34	Center-Forward	6"4'	Fresno State	August 19-26
Jay Edwards	Governors Cup	3	Guard	6"3'	University of Indiana	September 29 to October 14
Herb Jones		34	Forward-Center	6"2'	University of Cincinnati	October 16 to December 18

References

1. "Coney Island slams Swift". Manila Standard.
2. "Thompkins, Cuenco pay dearly for fight". Manila Standard.
3. "Meaties zap Megas, keep winning run". Manila Standard.
4. "Crippled Swift bucks Tondeña 65". Manila Standard.
5. "Pepsi edges Shell, puts one foot in semifinals". Manila Standard.