Source : InterAKTVThe 14-man Philippine men’s basketball team’s lineup to the 2011 Southeast Asian Games has been finalized, according to national coach Norman Black.
Sinag Pilipinas will be composed of SMART-Gilas skipper Chris Tiu, this year’s UAAP Most Valuable Player Bobby Ray Parks of National University, Greg Slaughter, Kiefer Ravena, Nico Salva, Justin Chua and Emman Monfort of Ateneo and Garvo Lanete and Jake Pascual of San Beda.
Also making the cut are Filipino-Americans Chris Ellis and Cliff Hodge of the NLEX Road Warriors, RR Garcia of Far Eastern University, and Jeric Fortuna and Jeric Teng of University of Santo Tomas.
The basketball squad attended Team Philippines’ send-off Friday night at the PhilSports Arena.
The Philippines will open its campaign against Cambodia on November 14 followed by Vietnam on November 15. The team will wrap up their elimination round campaign against Thailand on November 16. All matches will be broadcast live on AKTV.
Black, a five-time champion in the UAAP, said that the team’s style will be similar to how his Ateneo Blue Eagles play.
“We’ll do the same thing as what Ateneo does. We will run and we’ll play defense,” said Black.
Black admits that cohesion will still be a problem going into the SEA Games since some of the players have only practiced with the team after the end of the NCAA season.
“It’s difficult because the NCAA just ended and some of the players just joined us this week on a full-time basis. We are trying our best to fast forward the process but of course, it takes some time,” said Black.
With the exception of Tiu, all players will be competing in the SEA Games for the first time.
Tiu will be making his second SEA Games appearance after being a part of the Harbour Centre-backed team in 2007 that won the gold in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
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