MANILA, Philippines—The Nokia Philippine Youth Team leaves for Kuala Lumpur Monday morning hoping to put in three more days of training before kicking off its campaign in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship for Junior Men on May 1.
“We still have to play on a consistent basis,” said national coach Franz Pumaren on the eve of the team’s departure.
“I’ve been stressing to the boys that basketball is a 40-minute game. We cannot just show what we’re capable of doing. Hopefully, we can correct those particular lapses before our opening game.”
The RP youngsters will run smack against host and defending champion Malaysia in the opener on Thursday at the Malaysia Amateur Basketball Association gym.
Then they go up against Thailand on May 2, Indonesia on May 4 and Singapore on May 5.
The top two teams in the single-round tourney will earn slots to the FIBA Asia Youth Championship in Iran this September.
Leading the 18-under nationals are team captain Frank Golla Jr. of Ateneo de Manila University, University of the Philippines’ Samuel Joseph Marata, College of St. Benilde’s Mark Joel de Guzman and late additions 6-foot-7 Norbert Torres of Toronto and 6-foot-6 Kyle Pascual of California, both foreign high school standouts with Filipino roots.
“We know the lineup [of the other teams] but we don’t know yet their type of game or how they play,” said Pumaren.
Yet Pumaren believes his 15-man squad has improved following a two-week training at the Joe Abunassar Impact Basketball in California, guest stints in the PBL and tune-up games.
“I think we became tougher,” said Pumaren, who steered De La Salle University to the UAAP men’s crown last season. “We were exposed to a different level of basketball. It made us competitive.”
Rounding up the youth roster are Ryan Roose Garcia, Jed Manguera, Gabriel Banal, Ian Sanggalang, Joseph Terso, Mark Lopez, Jaypee Mendoza, Joseph Tolentino, Jovet Mendoza and Philip Paredes.
The Philippines last captured the Seaba youth title in the 2004 edition held in Lucena City behind a team spearheaded by San Beda College ace Ogie Menor and University of the East shooter James Martinez.
