Philippine U-16 quint hoping for favorable Fiba Asia draw

MANILA—When the Energen Pilipinas Under-16 Youth team reports for training next week, coach Olsen Racela hopes for the luck of the draw in the Fiba Asia U16 tournament this October.

Powered by Arvin Tolentino’s strong play, the young Nationals earned a berth in the world qualifier after sweeping the first Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) U16 for Men in Banting City, Malaysia, last Saturday.

“They (players) already know the system, it’s just a matter of reviewing it,” said Racela. “But in international tournaments, it also depends on which countries you’ll be bracketed with, so we’ll see.”

The Fiba Asia U16 tournament, which serves as a qualifier for the 2012 Fiba U17 World Championship, is scheduled Oct. 18 to 28 in Nha Trang City, Vietnam.

Malaysia and Indonesia, the Seaba runners-up, also earned the right to represent Southeast Asia along with Vietnam, which clinched an outright slot as tournament host.

Racela said his team aims to surpass the feat of the country’s last under-16 batch, which placed fourth in the Fiba Asia U16 Men’s tournament in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, in November 2009.

That squad, led by Kiefer Ravena and mentored by Eric Altamirano, bowed to China in the semifinals before losing to Iran in the battle for third.

“We have to work on our consistency,” said Racela. “The [Seaba] was a good preparation for us. In international tournaments, you have to get used to playing everyday.”

Other early qualifiers include China, Chinese Taipei, South Korea and Japan in East Asia, Uzbekistan and India in Middle Asia and Lebanon, Iran and Iraq in West Asia.

The Philippines, which routed its opponents by an average of 38 points, downed host Malaysia (91-64), Indonesia (109-46), Laos (101-57) and Singapore (70-52) in the Seaba tournament.

With Tolentino—the tournament’s best performer with averages of 19.5 points and eight boards—in the team are Gelo Vito, Rev Diputado, Henry Asilum, Hubert Cani, Radge Tongco, Daryl Pascual, Kyles Lao, Gideon Babilonia, Jay Javelosa, Louie Brill and Early Murphy.