Batang Gilas heads to Fiba Asia u17

AFTER a stint in the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup earlier this month, the Batang Gilas Pilipinas now sets its eyes on the FIBA U18 Asia n Championship on Aug. 5 to 11 in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

A total of 10 players from the Batang Gilas squad in the U17 World Cup were included in the pool. But only four made it to the final 12--towering 16-year-old center Kai Sotto, Gerry Abadiano, Carl Tamayo, and Geo Chiu.

Sotto, who stands at 7’1”, had a breakout performance in the U17 World Cup, leading the Philippines to a 14th place finish. He impressed a lot of scouts with averages of 16.4 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.3 blocks. He was ranked eighth in scoring, fifth in rebounds, third in blocks and fourth in efficiency in U17 World Cup. Abadiano and Tamayo were the Philippines’ second and third leading scorers with 12.4 and 10.2 points per game, respectively.

The Philippines will be beefed up with another big man in 6’11” Fil-Nigerian AJ Edu.

Edu, who’s bound for the University of Toledo in the NCAA Division 1, will give the Philippines much-needed help in scoring and defense.

Also in the final 12 are Miguel Oczon, Dalph Panopio, Xyrus Torres, Rhayyan Amsali, Dave Ildefonso, Joshua Ramirez and Bismark Lina.

The Philippines is in Group B with China, Lebanon and United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Batang Gilas will face Lebanon first on Aug. 5, UAE on Aug. 6 and then China on Aug. 7.

The top four teams in the tournament will earn a spot in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup next year.