1981 Presto Fun Drinks season

1981 Presto Fun Drinks season
Head coach	Jimmy Mariano
Owner(s)	CFC Corporation
Open Conference results
Record	4–14 (22.2%)
Place	9th
Playoff finish	N/A
Place	3rd
Playoff finish	Semifinals
Presto Fun Drinks seasons

The 1981 Presto Fun Drinks season was the seventh season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

Transactions

TRANSACTIONS
Bienvenido dela Cruz Acquired from Gilbey's during the off-season
Filomeno Gulfin Acquired from Crispa during the off-season
Larry Mumar Acquired from Galleon during the off-season

Rookies

TRANSACTIONS
Woodrow Jaymalin, Ricardo Roces, Rafael Sison Acquired from their farm team in the MICAA
Joey Marquez Formerly of Man Diesel and Solidenims in the MICAA
Joel Banal, Eddie Boy Mendoza, Jose Roslin & Manny Victorino From their farm team in the MICAA, started playing in the 2nd Conference

Occurrences

Jimmy Mariano takes over from fellow olympian Alfonso "Boy" Marquez on the Presto bench at the start of the season.

The Presto Fun Drinkers had a pair of Harold Johnson and Myles Patrick for their imports in the Open Conference. After two games, Patrick was replaced by Earl Tatum, who played four games before getting injured and left without any replacement.

Semifinal stint

With the handicap ruling favoring the team in the Reinforced Filipino Conference, the Fun Drinkers enlisted the services of Lew Massey as their import, often called "Sweet Lew", Massey is a prolific scoring machine from North Carolina State and the second round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1978 NBA Draft. After nine games in the elimination phase, the Fun Drinkers enters the quarterfinal phase with a 5-4 won-loss slate. Presto made it to the semifinal round along with Crispa, U-Tex and Yco-Tanduay by winning three of their five outings in the round of six.

On the last playing date of the semifinals on November 14, the Fun Drinkers beat Yco-Tanduay, 121-114, to finish with three wins and three losses and tied with Crispa, which beat first finalist U-Tex in the nightcap. The CFC ballclub lost to the Redmanizers, 114-119, in the playoff game on November 17 in their closest bid to advance in the championship for the first time.

Award

Rafael "Cho" Sison was voted the season's Rookie of the year.

Roster

Presto Fun Drinks roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. C 1 Victorino, Manny 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) Jose Rizal College G/F 5 Jaymalin, Woodrow 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) PCU F 6 Estrada, Ernesto 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) University of Visayas G 7 Mumar, Lawrence 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) UST F 8 Chua, Jacinto 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) Far Eastern G 9 Dela Cruz, Bienvenido 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) University of Mindanao G 10 Mendoza, Eduardo 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) University of Visayas F/C 11 Ritualo, Florendo 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) University of Baguio G 12 Sison, Rafael 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Ateneo de Davao G 14 Basilan, Danilo 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) SWU G 15 Roces, Ricardo 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Mapua (Jrs) F 19 Roslin, Jose 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) PCCr G 20 Franco, Reynaldo 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) UE F 22 Gulfin, Filomeno 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) SWU F/C 26 Banal, Joel 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Mapua Tech F 66 Marquez, Joey 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Angeles University F 33 Johnson, Harold (I) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) F/C Patrick, Myles (I) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Auburn University F 43 Tatum, Earl (I) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) Marquette University F 23 Massey, Lew (I) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) UNC Charlotte	Head coach Jimmy Mariano Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (I) Import Injured