Senegal gains slot in W Cup

MANILA, Philippines - Senegal became the 10th team to qualify for the 2014 FIBA World Cup after squeezing out a 57-56 nail-biter over host Cote d’Ivoire to claim third place honors in the FIBA AfroBasket 2013 Saturday in Abidjan.

Angola, which secured a World Cup berth in making the AfroBasket finals Friday, went all the way to win the continental championship, repulsing surprise finalist Egypt, 57-40.

Angola, Egypt and Senegal represent Africa in the world meet, battling host Spain, Olympic champion the United States, Asian qualifiers Iran, the Philippines and Korea, Oceania teams Australia and New Zealand, would-be qualifiers from the Americas (four) and Europe (six) plus four wild cards.

The 24 teams will be divided into four groups during the draw slated in February. The top four from each group advance to the knockout stage of the tourney set Aug. 30 to Sept. 14 in six cities in Spain.

In another development, Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes said they would invite collegiate stars Terrence Romeo, Kiefer Ravena, Bobby Ray Parks, Raymond Almazan, Kevin Ferrer, Chris Newsome and Arnold Van Opstal to join the Gilas cadet team.

“They will surely be invited. Gusto kaya nila o papayagan ba sila,” said Reyes on his Twitter account.

RR Garcia, Kevin Alas, Garvo Lanete, Jake Pascual, Matt Ganuelas, Ronald Pascual and Greg Slaughter are those who are already part of the cadet team that is to represent the country in the coming SEA Games.

As the African traditional power, Angola is making its seventh appearance in the world championship. Egypt is making a first WC stint since 1994 while Senegal is back for the first time since 2006.

The Philippines is to compete in its fifth world championship, Korea in its sixth and Iran its second.

Meanwhile, the Tournament of the Americas in Caracas, Venezuela has started with Puerto Rico, featuring former Petron Blaze import Renaldo Balkman, getting off to a 2-0 start.

Balkman, banned in the local pro loop for an on-court outburst that saw him grab teammate Arwind Santos by the neck, churned out 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead Puerto Rico to an 83-67 win over Canada Saturday (yesterday morning in Manila).

Up next for Puerto Rico is Paraguay, which nipped Jamaica, 68-66, also on Saturday.

Dominican Republic pulled a big reversal in stunning Argentina, 91-72, while holding Argentine star Luis Scola to 13 points on 4-of-18 shooting.

James Feldeine had 21 points. Juan Coronado scored 18 and Jack Michael Martinez had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds for Dominican Republic.

In another game, Venezuela ripped Paraguay, 75-70.