Fil-Canadians to reinforce RP youth basketball team

MANILA, Philippines – The RP basketball federation is looking forward to play two foreign-raised Filipinos in the coming Nokia Manila Youth Basketball Invitational tournament that begins on Thursday at the Astrodome. The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) has recruited Filipino-Canadian Matthew Wright to add ceiling and hustle to the team. Wright is a six-foot-two shooting guard for the Martin Grove high school in Toronto. He and six-foot-seven Norbert Torres, another Canada-raised Filipino, are expected to lead the squad. “Wright is just the player we need. He is very aggressive, can shoot and defend. Torres has the same qualities. We are looking at these two players to lead us in this tournament and the Iran tilt," youth coach Franz Pumaren said. SBP executive-director Noli Eala also said the team is eyeing San Sebastian High-School standout Arvy Bringas to provide firepower to the team backed by Nokia and Tao Corp. “We’re arranging something with the National Collegiate Athletic Association so Bringas can join the team for the Nokia tourney. We need his scoring sock," Eala added. The RP youth team, which won the Southeast Asian Basketball championship earlier this year, is using the invitationals to toughen up for the FIBA Asia Under-18 Championship set August 28 to September 5 in Tehran, Iran. The Philippines faces Lithuania on August 14, 8 p.m., shortly after the one-hour opening ceremony, with China and Chinese-Taipei tangling in the first game at five o’clock. The next day, the Filipinos take on Chinese-Taipei in the featured match, after the Lithuania-China encounter. The final day of preliminaries will have the Philippines battling China after the match pitting Chinese-Taipei and Lithuania. The top two teams after the eliminations advance to the championship round while the two other squads meet for third place. – GMANews.TV