Red Lion Marcelo joins Sinag Pilipinas as Blue Eagle Chua begs off

A Red Lion covers for a Blue Eagle as San Beda's Dave Marcelo is in while Ateneo’s Justin Chua is out of Sinag Pilipinas, the men’s national basketball team to the 26th Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia. Marcelo, Finals MVP of the 87th NCAA season which the Red Lions won, will be joining the final 12 on head coach Norman Black’s roster to the biennial games where the Philippines is the defending champion. Chua was initially the top choice but the wide-bodied Blue Eagle begged off to attend to his academics. “I just got word that Marcelo was accepted in the final 12 by the SEA Games (organizers)," said Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director Sonny Barrios. Marcelo was a late entry in the pool after San Sebastian’s Ian Sanggalang and Ronald Pascual, who failed to attend the team’s practices, were dropped from the roster. Black will be bringing a 14-member pool to Jakarta and stressed he would only announce the final 12 during the team managers’ meeting on the eve of the basketball competitions on November 11 in Jakarta. Of the 14, University of Santo Tomas’s Jeric Fortuna and Jeric Teng are already top candidates on the reserve list. Sinag Pilipinas showed chemistry in its recent tune-up game, beating San Miguel Beer’s team to the Asean Basketball League, 74-62. The Philippine is bracketed in Group A with Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, while Group B is composed of host Indonesia, Malaysia Singapore and Myanmar. Sinag Pilipinas members include former Smart Gilas mainstays Chris Tiu and Greg Slaughter, Chris Ellis, Cliff Hodge, RR Garcia, Garvo Laneta, Jake Pascual, Emman Monfort, Nico Salva, Bobby Ray Parks and Kiefer Ravena. - OMG, GMA News