Batang Gilas opens Seaba bid vs Malaysia

CAGAYAN DE ORO—The Batang Gilas will face a Malaysian side trained by a Filipino coach in the Southeast Asia Basketball Association (SEABA) Under-16 tournament at 6 p.m. today at Xavier University gym here.

Brunei and Thailand collide at 4 p.m. in the tournament that serves as a qualifying event for the Fiba Asia Under-16 slated in July.

Beaujing Acot, a former member of the University of Santo Tomas coaching staff and head coach of D-League team Cebuana Lhuillier, is handling the Malaysian squad.

The tournament kicked off yesterday with the Indonesia-Brunei and Malaysia-Thailand matches.

Danny Ildefonso, a two-time Most Valuable Player and one of the latest inclusions in the PBA’s 40 Greatest Players, was on hand to witness the Batang Gilas squad yesterday.

Ildefonso was there to see his son, Sian Dave Ildefonso, one of the members of the squad.

The veteran slotman, who still plays for the Meralco Bolts, gave pointers to the younger players while also couldn’t help himself acting as stage father to Sian Dave, a 6-foot-3 player, who has to adjust playing from power forward to shooting forward.