1997 Purefoods Corned Beef Cowboys season

The 1997 Purefoods Corned Beef Cowboys season was the 10th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The team was known as Purefoods Carne Norte Beefies in the Governor's Cup.

Off-season transactions[]

Championship[]

The Purefoods Corned Beef Cowboys won the All-Filipino Cup title at the expense of Gordon's Gin Boars. Coach Eric Altamirano, who replaces Chot Reyes at the start of the season, became the youngest coach to steer his team to a PBA crown.

Runner-up finish[]

In the Governors Cup, Purefoods advances into the championship series for the second time in the season by winning their best-of-five semifinal series against San Miguel Beermen, three games to two.

Going up against the defending champion Alaska Milkmen in the finals, the Carne Norte Beefies won Game one, but lost the last four games to settled for a second place finish in the season-ending conference.

Trades / Occurrences[]

On July 21, pre-season acquisition Cris Bolado was traded to Gordon's Gin in exchange for Edward Joseph Feihl, who hold out of his contract with the Boars, Feihl began playing for Purefoods in the Governors Cup. ^[2]

Two imports by the same name of Mike Jones played for Purefoods in the season, the first one was a third round pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1988 NBA draft and who played in the Commissioners Cup, replacing their former import Ronnie Grandison, who return to the team he played with back in 1993 but couldn't lead the Cowboys to victories this time.

The other Mike Jones was from Rutgers University, who played in the Governors Cup finals and he started out with the Beefies in their fourth outing in the Governors Cup after temporary import Eric Brown fill in for Jones in the first three games.

Award[]

• Alvin Patrimonio won his fourth Most Valuable Player (MVP) trophy, tying the record of Ramon Fernandez' four MVPs.

Roster[]

Pos. No. Player School F 1 Bong Ravena UE G 3 Elmer Lago De La Salle F 5 Edmund Reyes UST F 7 Rey Evangelista UST G 8 Genesis Sasuman Letran G 10 Dindo Pumaren De La Salle C 11 EJ Feihl Adamson F 16 Alvin Patrimonio Mapua Tech G 19 Freche Ang Saint La Salle F 23 Reuben Dela Rosa Mapua Tech C 44 Jerry Codinera UE C 55 Sonny Cabatu PSBA F 88 Cadel Mosqueda Arellano University F 20 Ronnie Grandison (C) University of New Orleans F 45 Mike Jones (C) Auburn University G 12 (G) G 24 (G) Rutgers University Position Name/s Head coach:  Eric Altamirano Assistants: Frankie Lim / Louie Alas / Ryan Gregorio (C) - Commissioner's Cup Import, (G) - Governor's Cup Import '

References[]