Jude P. Roque Dubai hosts tough cage tourney

D UBAI, UAE. The United Arab Emirates is not known as a basketball- loving nation. Like most Arab countries, football is king. But the bustling city of Dubai has been host to one of the toughest basketball competitions in Asia – the Dubai International Basketball Championship –, which is joined by the top club teams and National teams in Asia and Africa.

The Philippines occasionally sends representatives to this prestigious tourney, which happens every January. Dubai is home to over half a million Filipinos, which is why the organizers prefer to have a Philippine squad to attract the Pinoy audience. And so, whenever there’s a Philippine team in the tourney, more than half of the Al Ahli gymnasium is filled with Pinoy fans.

Since 2005, six Philippine teams have battled it out in Dubai namely, Gilas 1.0, Gilas Cadet, Barako Bull, NLEX, Mighty Sports and this year, reigning NCAA champion San Beda College. In 2010, the Smart Gilas national team of coach Rajko Toroman bagged third place, even with young players fresh out of the collegiate ranks like Chris Tiu, JV Casio, Mark Barocca, Mac Baracael, Dylan Ababou, Jason Ballesteros and Greg Slaughter. The youthful Nationals used an up-tempo game to upend the taller and more experienced Al Jalaa of Syria, 107-98, in the Bronze medal game. The Philippines’ best finish however came a year later when the same Gilas team, this time reinforced by the newly naturalized Marcus Douthit, settled for second place, after bowing to El Ettihad El Sakandary of Egypt, 75-84, in the final game.

Last year, a talent-laden Mighty Sports squad composed of select pros and standout amateur players plus four American imports competed in the tourney but managed to win just a single game because of its lack of chemistry. The local players only met the Americans in Dubai one day before the tournament. With at least two weeks of practice, this team would’ve figured well in the competitions. NBA veterans Hasheem Thabeet and Dominic McGuire plus Ginebra import Justin Brownlee and Douthit joined PBA stars Tiu, Beau Belga, Ryan Arana, JC Intal, Gary David and Willie Miller, and collegiate aces Kiefer Ravena, Jeron Teng and Jett Manuel in Dubai for this tournament last year. Coach Charles Tiu had little time to work on the chemistry even when Mighty had some close games against the tougher teams in the tourney. They managed to salvage a 95-80 win over Ball Above All USA.

In this 29th edition of the tournament this year, the organizers had to settle with the Red Lions due to the unavailability of Gilas and the PBA squads. But San Beda, fresh from winning back-to-back titles in the NCAA, is without a doubt the best available option. The Red Lions also claimed the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup crown last year. It’s coach Boyet Fernandez’ second tour of duty in this tournament also after he piloted the NLEX Road Warriors in 2015 to a quarterfinal finish. Despite the huge success of the Lions however in 2017, winning multiple titles in various leagues, the Dubai joust is a much higher level as the best club teams from this part of the globe are beefed up by not only National players but also up to three foreign imports. SBC is one of nine other teams joining this year namely, the UAE National Team, Sagesse of Lebanon, Ball Above All UAE, Homenetmen Lebanon, Libya Maritime Transportation, Sale of Morocco, Sousse of Tunisia, Al Riyadi of Lebanon, and First Security Group of Tunisia. The Red Lions are in the stronger group with defending champion Sale, last year’s runner-up Sagesse, Sousse and the UAE National Team.

Last Friday, the Red Lions debuted in the tournament against the UAE National Team that’s also reinforced with African import Mamadou Nday, a 6’10” powerhouse from Africa. It was a tight game all throughout, with SBC even leading by seven points in the third. But some questionable calls in endgame ignited a 9-0 run for the home team that eventually gave the W to UAE, 84-74. After the game, some twenty Bedan alumni led the singing of the San Beda hymn as the rest of the Filipino crowd cheered on.