Photo by NCAA/Ejay Amador
MANILA, Philippines – San Sebastian hotshots Ronald Pascual and Ian Sangalang will miss the country’s championship bid in the Southeast Asian Games.
Pascual, a 6-foot-2 wingman, and the 6-foot-6 Sangalang were recently cut from Sinag Pilipinas, a squad of collegiate stars heavily favored to again capture the men’s basketball gold medal in the Indonesia biennial games set Nov. 11-22.
From 22 aspirants, Sinag coach Norman Black has trimmed the roster to 17 and will decide on the final 12 on the eve of the tournament to be held in Jakarta.
A team official who refused to be identified said Sangalang, a former Under-16 standout, and the hot-shooting Pascual have not showed up at Sinag practices since the NCAA Finals where the San Beda Red Lions swept the Stags.
Smart Gilas skipper Chris Tiu and slotman Greg Slaughter are expected to lead the PH squad. The other strong contenders for slots are top collegiate players Bobby Ray Parks, Kieffer Ravena, RR Garcia, Jeric Fortuna, Jeric Teng, Garvo Lanete, Dave Marcelo, Nico Salva, Eman Monfort and Jake Pascual.
Filipino-foreign players JR Buensuceso, Kieth Jansen, Clifford Hodge, Chris Ellis and Chris Mewsome are also bidding to make it to Indonesia.
Sinag Pilipinas, set to leave for the SEA Games on November 12, will play Cobra Energy Drink, a campaigner in the PBA D-League, on Saturday and San Miguel Beer of the Asian Basketball League the following day.
The Nationals dropped their first tuneup game against the Beermen and played to a tie with Cebuana Lhuillier early this week.
Black announced Tuesday that naturalized center Marcus Douthit will not join the team in its title defense in the SEA Games.
The Ateneo Blue Eagles head coach said the 6-foot-11 Douthit is now playing in the Chinese league.