Gilas U-16 team to be tested in SEABA tilt

By Peter Atencio

THE Gilas Pilipinas’ boys team is getting ready for the 2023 SEABA Under-16 Championship from July 17 to 19 in Indonesia.

Eighteen prospects, including four newcomers Elijah Williams, Paul Diao, Edryn Morales and CJ Amos have been assembled at Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna for a training game.

They will be in Jakarta in time for the regional meet, which will serve as a qualifier for the 2023 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship in Qatar this September.

Coach Josh Reyes said they only had a month to get ready.

“Luckily, we started a bit early in terms of calling in players for tryouts,” said Reyes.

Making up the 18-man roster are promising Ateneo slotman Ziv Espinas, scorer Irus Chua and versatile forward Kieffer Alas.

Talented guard Jheremy Godoy is also listed.

“It’s a unique situation because when the FIBA calendar started, this is not part of it. It’s unprecedented that the memo only came out a month before the tournament,” shared Reyes.

Gilas will face Malaysia on July 17, before meeting Thailand on the July 18, and Indonesia on July 19.

Reyes said their campaign will be difficult.

“It’s hard because it’s just three games. There is no playoff and you have to win every game to qualify, “ added Reyes.

willingness and eagerness to make a point – and win – right away,” said Petro Gazz coach Oliver Almadro, ruing his wards’ 21 glaring errors in the first two sets. “But

I’m happy how they performed overall.”

Grethcel Soltones and Aiza Pontillas topscored for Petro Gazz with 16 and 15 points, respectively, while Nicole Tiamzon backed them up with eight markers and Kecelyn Galdones stepped up in the absence of middle MJ Phillips, who left for the Korean league, and added six points, matching Remy Palma’s output.

The Angels, runners-up to the Creamline Cool Smashers in the recent All-Filipino Conference, unloaded 53 attack points, nearly doubling the Foxies’ 29-point effort, came through with seven blocks, two more than their rivals, and produced five aces against the latter’s three.

But they yielded 30 points off their miscues against the Foxies’ 16 although they put their act together to dominate the third and complete the straight-set win in one-hour and 34 minutes in the first of four matches set at resumption of the single-round elims phase.

With a third straight 0-3 loss, Farm Fresh bowed out of the semis race in the mid-season conference of the league organized by Sports Vision and backed by BingoPlus, ArenaPlus, Mikasa, SMART, Rebisco, Kumu, Asics and SportRadar.