MANILA, Philippines - The forthcoming national Jr PBA tournament, which will see the participation of out-of-town teams from the Visayas and Mindanao, gets tougher with the fielding of two guest teams from the national 13-U national pool.
The PBA has made the junior tournament national in scope in line with efforts of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas to discover young talents for the national youth pool.
National 13-under coach Mark Herrera said the tournament would serve the dual purpose of scouting new talents for his 13-under pool while giving his current 24-man pool the final tryout he needs to select the 12 players to represent the country in the Basketball Youth of America Tournament in Florida, USA this July.
“It’s really difficult to choose the top 12 players because all these players have been playing their best,” said Herrera, head coach of the University of the East Pages.
Among the top picks are 6-2 center Arvin Tolentino (Binangonan), Andre Paras (Las Salle, Greenhills), son of former PBA Superstar Benjie Paras, and big guard Mark Gamboa (Ateneo).
“After the Batang PBA, I plan to schedule tune-up games against top university teams of the UAAP Jrs and NCAA Jrs to prepare the kids for the upcoming international competitions,” added Herrera, also the head coach of the back-to-back champions Batang PBA Talk ‘n Text Quezon City team.