RP under-16 team to go all-Pinoy in FIBA-Asia tilt

The Nokia under-16 national team will be playing All-Filipino in the 1st FIBA Asia U-16 Championship to be held in Johor Bahru, Malaysia from November 19 to 29. Bobby Ray Parks Jr., the 6-foot-3 versatile Fil-Am son of former seven-time PBA best import awardee Bobby Parks, will not be able to join the team under the coach Eric Altamirano’s watch.

Parks, whose was among the 24 players picked last January to form the national pool, opted out of the team due to his studies at St. George High School. “Unfortunately, Bobby Ray can’t join the team. We wanted him to play for us, stay with us for a month and a half, but he could not find a way to leave school that long. Much as we wanted him to be part of the team that would play in November, that will not happen," said Altamirano. A southpaw, Parks could have helped the team since he can play almost all positions and averaged 19 points a game while playing for St. George High School. No less than Gryphons coach Jeff Ruffin praised Parks’ talent. “He’s a hard-nosed kid who can bring up the ball against pressure, or play on the wing, or even in the post as a five if we had a great matchup." Altamirano said plans to invite other Fil-foreign players also proved futile since parents would not allow these players to skip school for long period of time. “These players are high school players and that’s the hard part. If you invite them to play, they really have to skip school and miss a lot of classes and the parents would not want that to happen. It’s really hard to invite players unless they really decide to come over." Despite playing al-Filipino, Altamirano who also handles the National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) program of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP), believes his current team will be able to perform well in the FIBA-Asia U16 tilt “Coach Rajko Toroman has been giving us inputs since he knows the international brand of basketball. This team also has been training since January so we are prepared heading into the Championship," added Altamirano. As their final tune-up for the FIBA-Asia, which has 17 countries vying for the title, the Nokia Under 16 team will be competing against three foreign teams in the 2nd Nokia-Pilipinas Youth Invitational Basketball Championship at the University of San Carlos, in Cebu City. Iran, Chinese Taipei and Japan are arriving for the four-day pocket tournament from November 5 to 8. The Philippines play Iran on November 5 before taking on Chinese Taipei and Japan in the next two days. The finals will be played on November 8. Prior to the Invitational, the team will play goodwill games against Jordan, which arrives on October 18 and will stay for the next 10 days to train in the country. “Japan is bracketed with the Philippines in the FIBA-Asia and this will give us the chance to study their game. Iran’s participation and Jordan’s arrival will provide the team the knowledge on how Middle East teams play," added Altamirano. Kiefer Ravena, Von Pessumal and Paolo Romero who led Ateneo to the UAAP titles, lead the RP U16 team together with Cederick Labing-Isa and Kevin Ferrer (UST); Jeron Teng (Xavier); Dan Sara and Raf Nayve (San Beda); Angelo Alolino (Perpetual); Cris Tolomia (FEU); Michael Pate and Rene Sta. Maria (La Salle-Greenhills); Emmanuel Bonleon (Holy Child Davao); Gabriel Reyes (La Salle-Zobel); Jeoff Javillonar (RUT); Prince Caperal (Arellano) and Nestor Bantayan (Adamson). Kazakhstan and Bahrain join the Philippines and Japan in Group B while China, Myanmar, India and Jordan compose Group A. Korea, Singapore, Syria, Kuwait and Malaysia are in Group C while Chinese Taipei, Thailand, Iran and Saudi Arabia are the teams in Group D. Top two teams after the single round group elimination will advance into the quarterfinals. The champion squad earns a seat to the 2010 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Hamburg, Germany. – GMANews.TV