Ceiling woes slow Batang Gilas in Fiba U17 tourney

DUBAI—Serbia, Spain and the United States have an average ceiling of 6-foot-6 while 7-foot-1 Giorgios Papagiannis of Greece towers over everybody in the ongoing Fiba U17 World Championship.

With an obvious shortage in height, it’s not difficult to pinpoint what needs to be done with the Batang Gilas program against the best in the world.

“We have to find Filipinos who are also big,” said MVP Sports Foundation president Al Panlilio.

Handicapped in the shaded area with just a pair of 6-foot-2s in Richard Escoto and Carlo Abadeza, the Filipinos, who average only 5-foot-11, have been dwarfed by the opposition.

“Height is might as they say. Our hearts are very big, but physically we have to help ourselves look for players that are also taller and heftier,” said Panlilio, who watched Batang Gilas get overpowered by Angola, Greece, the United States and France.

Batang Gilas lost its quarterfinal bid to France, 86-57, and fell to the classification round opposite Argentina late Thursday night.

With three more games, winning over Argentina will put the Philippines in the 9th-12th place bracket while losing could mean skidding to 13th-16th place.

Panlilio, whose son Mikel is a defensive ace for Batang Gilas, said the SBP is keen on recruiting foreign players with Filipino roots for the youth program in the future.

“We gave everybody a tough time, it’s only until the late third to fourth quarter that we fell short,” said Panililio, also the vice president of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

“If we only had three 6-foot-5 players, it will be a big thing for the team.”

Scoring ace Jolo Mendoza pulled his right hamstring against France and won’t be seeing action the rest of the tournament, leaving Batang Gilas coach Jamike Jarin to rely on Jollo Go, Diego Dario, Paul Desiderio, Mike Dela Cruz and brothers Mike and Matt Nieto  for firepower.