Jared Bahay tops NBTC ranking for second straight year

FILE– Jared Bahay. –NBTC PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—For the second year in a row, the country’s top-ranked under-19 player is Jared Bahay.

According to the National Basketball Training Center rankings released on Thursday, the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu standout remained atop the ladder after his team’s successful defense of the Cesafi title in Season 23.

READ: Jared Bahay has change of heart, decommits from UP

Bahay joined Kai Sotto in the short list of young swingmen who became NBTC’s number one for two straight years.

The 18-year-old beat out De La Salle-Zobel wingman Kieffer Alas and soon-to-be NCAA Season 99 juniors MVP Amiel Acido from Perpetual Help, who are the second and third best players on the list, respectively.

NBTC program director Eric Altamirano said having players from Cesafi, UAAP and NCAA rounding out the top three was a testament to how alive grassroots programs are in the country.

READ: UAAP: Jared Bahay joins Ateneo after decommitting from UP

“This is further proof that grassroots basketball is alive and well in the Philippines, and hopefully, as NBTC continues to grow and get stronger, we get more and more promising prospects all over the country,” said Altamirano.

Doys Dungo of University of Santo Tomas and Tebol Garcia of Adamson rounded out the top five.

Titing Manalili of Letran, Baby Falcon Vince Reyes, Ports Porter of Ateneo, Squire George Diamante and Veejay Pre of Far Eastern University were ranked as the esixth to 10th swingmen, respectively.

The annual NBTC National Finals is scheduled frok March 18-25 at Mall of Asia Arena.