Fil-Am may be tapped for SEAG basketball team

MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino-American, who played in the US NCAA Division II and is now studying in Ateneo, is being eyed to reinforce the young national basketball team to the Southeast Asian Games in Jakarta this November.

Chris Newsome, a 20-year-old 6-foot-2 guard, joined the Nationals in practice for the first time Monday night under Philippine coach and Ateneo mentor Norman Black, who is hoping to tap four more foreigners with Filipino roots in the collegiate-based national squad.

Far Eastern University’s RR Garcia, the 2010 UAAP MVP and former star of the national youth team, banners the squad that also include Smart Gilas mainstays Chris Tiu, Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter.

“Right now I’m just trying to teach the system (to the players),” Black said on Monday. The coach is hoping to tap some of the Filipino-Americans who recently saw action in the PBA D-League.

Newsome played for the New Mexico Highlands University in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference of the US NCAA Division II, where he led his team in assists at 2.8 per game aside from averaging 10.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals

A recent Ateneo transferee, Newsome won’t be available for the UAAP until he serves a two-year residency.

The Philippines is the defending men’s basketball champion, winning the last eight crowns in the ASEAN games, (played once every two years) since 1991. Laos scratched out the basketball competition when it hosted the last SEA Games in 2009.

Black said he could only train the national squad once a week when the varsity leagues kick off in July.

“We can’t monopolize their time,” said Black, who also mentored the national team that finished fourth in the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima.

“I’m not worried about the players’ conditioning and shooting since they’ve been training [with their schools]. But we’ll just continue to review our offense and defense. We don’t want to go back to square one when October gets around.”

Garvo Lanete, Jake Pascual and Rome dela Rosa of NCAA champion San Beda are also in the national pool along with National University’s Ray Parks, San Sebastian’s Calvin Abueva, Pamboy Raymundo and Ronald Pascual.