MVP WANTS BATANG GILAS STRENGTHENED
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 13 Aug 2014
Following the ouster of the Batang Gilas team from the FIBA World Under 17 Championships in Dubai with another crushing 86-57 loss to France in the round of sixteen after earlier losing by big margins to Angola, Greece and the United States, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny Pangilinan wants the team strengthened.
Pangilinan told the Manila Standard/Viva Sports that the coaching staff headed by Jamike Jarin ?must have known? that our opponents were much taller and bigger than the diminutive Filipinos and that they ?need to sit down? and discuss ways of bringing in some bigger players.
While he admired the fighting heart of the young boys, Pangilinan said the team should look into the possibility of recruiting Fil-foreigners to boost the line-up in terms of height since the tallest Filipino player was 6?3? while eleven of the twelve players on the USA team to which we lost by 60 points were much taller.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes told the Standard he has been ?talking to people in the US about finding some big Fil-Americans early? to reinforce the Batang Gilas line-up for the next World Cup tournament.
In their final round of sixteen game, Batang Gilas put on a gallant show in the first half behind patented fast-breaks and fine outside shooting to stay within striking distance of France at 41-35 but fell apart in the second half as the French went inside to their big men who dominated alongside some excellent outside shooting to outscore the Filipinos 45-22 in the second half for the 86-57 victory at the Al-Ahli Arena in Dubai on Tuesday night.
Batang Gilas team captain Mike Nieto led the nationals with 12 points and 10 rebounds while twin brother Matt Nieto also finished with 12 points while shooting star Jolo Mendoza who top scored in the games against Angola, Greece and the USA contributed 9 points.
Michael Dela Cruz showed a hot hand by scoring the last six points of the second quarter with back-to-back triples.
As usual the Filipino boys were not match against the bigger French players and were badly beaten off the boards by a wide 60-33 margin.
Batang Gilas was scheduled to face the losers in the Spain-Argentina clash in the consolation round rankings on Wednesday.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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