Benefit of scouting for Gilas

MANILA, Philippines — Gilas drew a bye in today’s opening games of the FIBA U16 Asia Cup in Doha as coach Josh Reyes will size up Kuwait and Japan in their contest before taking on Kuwait tomorrow and Japan on Tuesday at the Al-Gharafa Sports Club Multi-Purpose Hall.

The Philippines, Kuwait and Japan are bracketed in Group C in the 13-nation competition. After the preliminary round, No. 1 moves to the quarterfinals while No. 2 and No. 3 will play the same Group D placers in knockout crossover pairings for tickets to advance.

“Things are going well,” said Reyes from Doha. “We just got back from a tuneup with Qatar and won big. The other teams are also talented and most are taller than us. Boys are slowly adjusting, still getting very sleepy around dinner time and waking up too early. On-court chemistry needs a little more work but everyone gets along well and team bond is there. We’ll need to play fast for sure as we don’t have the same size as we had with Kai (Sotto).”

The previous U16 Asia Cup was held in Foshan, China, in 2018 with the Philippines finishing fourth behind Australia, China and New Zealand. Bannering the Philippine side were Sotto, Rayven Cortez, Geo Chiu, Yukien Andrada, Ricky Calimag and Terrence Fortea.

While Reyes said the starters are still to be determined, he mentioned Caelum Harris, Jared Bahay, Lebron Nieto and Jacob Bayla as his stabilizers on both ends. Several players on the team come from basketball families like Basti Reyes who’s the late PBA player Bryan Gahol’s nephew, Kristian Porter whose brother Kris plays in the PBA, Nieto whose twin brothers are also in the PBA and Santi Romero whose father Cong. Mikee was a former La Salle player.

Japan is expected to crowd the Philippines in the battle for Group C supremacy. Leading Japan’s charge is 6-6 Shawn Williams, born in Hokkaido to a Ghanaian father and Japanese mother. Williams is enrolled in Sendai University Meisei High School where NBA player Rui Hachimura played. The Japanese roster also lists 6-8 Leon Watanabe, 6-5 Patrick Appeah and 6-7 Yuto Kawashima.