Naturalized center Marcus Douthit and five Gilas Pilipinas cadet players form the nucleus of the men’s basketball team that will defend its title in the 27th Southeast Asian Games in Burma (Myanmar) next month.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas yesterday tapped Kevin Alas, Ronald Pascual, Garvo Lanete, Matt Ganuelas and Jake Pascual as chief backup for the 6-foot-10 Douthit, then picked college stars Kiefer Ravena, Bobby Ray Parks, Jericho Cruz, Mark Belo, Kevin Ferrer and Prince Caperal to complete the 12-man lineup from an original pool of 16.
Dropped were the pro-bound Terrence Romeo, RR Garcia, Chris Newsome and Roi Sumang.
Head coach Jong Uichico was originally looking to form a tall but quick squad in the country’s bid to sustain its dominance in the SEA Games set Dec. 11 to 22.
Except for a silver-medal finish in 1989 in Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines has ruled basketball in the 11-nation meet since 1977.
A team coached by Norman Black topped the event in 2011 Indonesia after drubbing Thailand, 85-57, in the gold-medal match.
Jake Pascual, Ravena, Lanete and Parks are the only holdovers of that team.
Douthit helped Gilas Pilipinas earn a silver medal in the 2013 Fiba Asia Championship and a continental seat in the Fiba World Cup in Spain next year.