Codiñera-led UE Red Warriors to see action in Taiwan tournament

Jerry Codiñera, a couple of months before his sophomore season as head coach of the UE Red Warriors in the UAAP, will kick off 2012 with a bang when he, along with the very young UE Red Warriors, fly to Chunghwa, Taiwan, to participate in the 4th Ming Dao Cup International University Basketball Tournament at the MingDao University Campus. Codiñera, who was called "The Defense Minister" in the PBA during his professional career, will spearhead this out-of-the-country trip for the first time since he took over the coaching chores from Lawrence Chongson. "Basically, this will be my first out-of-the-country tournament and training with the team,” said Codiñera, a former Red Warrior himself. “Puro first-timers din ang mga aalis na kasama ko. Majority of them are from Team B." Adrian Santos, Erwin Duran, JM Noble and Jairold Flores, however, are not included in the 12-man lineup that will see action in the Taiwan tournament, as they were part of the Cobra Ironmen team in the 2011 PBA D-League Aspirants Cup. "Malalakas ang mga makakalaban namin sa five-day tournament. Nandyan ang Korea, Hong Kong at Taiwan na talagang malalaki ang players nila, meron mga 6'9”. Just like everyone else, we want to gain more experience and compete with teams who are on a higher level," said Codiñera. The 12 players chosen for the tournament are Roi Sumang and Chris Javier, Ralf Olivarez, Benben Dy, Bong Galanza, Dan Alberto, Balong Marquez, Raj Elmejrab (Filipino-Libyan), Jeriz Ruiz (from Adamson), Luis Pujante, Ivan Hernandez and the towering African import Arapat—all incoming sophomores from Team A. The lanky Arapat, according to a reliable source, plays small or power forward even with his 6-foot-7 height. "At this point, hindi ko pa ma-rate ang team na ito dahil mga bata pa ang mga ito at ngayon lang sasabak sa ganitong tournament. I want to see how they will measure up against faster and taller teams. On the average, ang center namin will be around 6'2-6'3 lang," Codiñera said of his team. The UE Red Warriors had also participated in the Ming Dao Basketball Tournament in 2009 and 2010, but skipped it in 2011, the year Codiñera replaced Chongson. Six teams from four countries take part in the annual tournament, where they play one game a day in five days. The Ming Dao Cup will take place on January 3 until January 7. The Warriors left for Chunghwa, Taiwan, January 2 morning. — KBK, GMA News