SEA Games: Sinag PHL coach Black picks hosts, Malaysians as tough contenders

Norman Black picked Indonesia and Malaysia as the toughest threats to the Philippines' bid to retain the men's basketball crown in the 26th Southeast Asian Games, but is at the same time wary about Thailand whose strength is suspect. The hosts and the Malaysians, who holds the reputation of having snapped the Filipinos' domination of the sport in the region in the 1977 SEA Games, are expected to go all out against Sinag Pilipinas. "But right now, my focus is on the team, letting the players understand the system because we were only complete last Monday," he said. "Hopefully we will be in the level that we want before the competition starts." And the Thais? Thailand, because of a leadership crisis in its national federation, was suspended in March this year, but managed to have that ban lifted by the International Basketball Federation early last month. Thus, no one really knows if Thailand would be bringing in a surprise package in the 26th edition of the SEA Games Indonesia is hosting in Palembang, Jakarta and West Java starting on November 11. But the draw and schedule, according to Black, favors his team that is composed mostly of collegiate standouts plus Chris Tiu and a few Filipino-Americans. The Philippines will face Thailand on the last day of the preliminaries in Group A on November 16, allowing Black and his staff to thoroughly scout the team that has been the country's perennial rival in SEA Games basketball. "We still don't know what kind of team Thailand is because they were suspended before. Now, we will get the chance to scout them during the tournament," said Black. The Filipinos are bracketed in Group A with Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam while host Indonesia leads Group B along with Malaysia, Singapore and Myanmar. Sinag Pilipinas will face Cambodia on November 14 and Vietnam on November 15. All of Sinag's games in Jakarta is at 12 noon (1 p.m. Manila time). The top two teams from each group will advance to the cross-over semifinal round where the Nationals could face either the hosts or the Malaysians. Black after dropping San Sebastian teammates Ian Sanggalang and Ronald Pascual for missing the team's practices, has his pool cut to 14. He will name the final 12 during the team managers' meeting on November 11 in Jakarta. Besides Tiu, also on the 14-man lineup are San Beda's Dave Marcelo, Garvo Lanete and Jake Pascual; Ateneo's Greg Slaughter, Kiefer Ravena, Emman Monfort, Nico Salva and Justin Chua; Far Eastern University's RR Garcia, National University's Bobby Ray Parks, University of Santo Tomas's Jeric Teng and Jeric Fortuna; and Filipino-Americans Cliff Hodge and Chris Ellis. — JVP, GMA News