ALLAN THE MAN

Joseph Yeo will boost the Air 21 Express’ flickering hopes in the PBA Governors’ Cup starting Friday when they go up against the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters.

The PBA has approved the one-on-one trade involving Yeo and forward Mark Isip on Thursday.

Talk ‘N Text star Jayson Castro is man enough to accept a one-sided beating his team suffered at the hands of league-leading Petron Blaze.

What he couldn’t accept was getting what he thought was a cheap shot when the game was already decided.

Latvia, Serbia and Lithuania opened the second phase of EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia with victories on Wednesday as teams tried to step up their bids to reach the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

LATVIA vs UKRAINE Game Highlights (VIDEO)

The Latvians lowered the boom on Ukraine in the first Group E game of the day, 85-51. The Baltic side, who finished third in Group B and carried no victories into the Second Round since none of the teams they beat advanced, got into a shooting rhythm early and opened a 24-11 lead.

Other than the centerpiece event of men’s basketball, the ever trendy, highly-awaited cheerdance competition serves as another major attraction in every UAAP season.

And this year won’t be any different as a jampacked crowd is expected to fill in the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday when seven cheerdance squads try to stop University of the Philippines from winning a fourth consecutive championship.

Kevin Durant is back in the familiar surroundings of Barcelona this week, the city he visited with the United States squad last summer before traveling to London and capturing an Olympic gold medal.

The Americans' presence in the Catalonian capital in 2012 was a big deal because there is a rich tradition of basketball in the city and fans relished the opportunity to see the USA stars.