By Peter Atencio
Team Philippines, which returns to the Williams Jones Cup cagefest after four years, is assembling a competitive squad under the Strong Group Athletics banner.
As members of Team SGA finally get their acts to together in practice, coach Charles Tiu hopes that they will have fighting chance in the annual cagefest, slated from July 13 to 21 Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei, Taiwan.
“We leave on the 12th (July 12). Hopefully, we can continue our streak of wins,” said Tiu, referring to SGA’s runner-up finish in a Dubai meet.
With two more players coming in, SGA will be ready for their coming campaign in the 43rd William Jones Cup in two weeks’ time.
Tiu has been gathering that members of the squad for scrimmages and discussed the team’s preparations on Tuesday at the Gatorade Hoops Center in Mandaluyong.
“I like the way they’re competing in practice. They’re playing hard. They are all intense,” said Tiu.
The squad will be complete by next week, once Ange Kouame and RJ Abarrientos come aboard.
Kouame just arrived in Manila last weekend, and will be around soon, while Abarrientos got hurt before he was able to join the scrimmages.
So far, SGA is already going into drills with Kiefer Ravena, Chris McCullough, Jordan Heading, and Caelan Tiongson around.
“We’ll probably have a full team by Tuesday next week. It will take a while before RJ can play with contact,” added Tiu.
The Philippines is heading to the Jones Cup for first time since 2019, when Mighty Sports won the title, before the tournament was cancelled for the next three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. No Philippine squad was assembled last year.
Last January, SGA made an impression with their second-place finish in the Dubai International Basketball Championship.
Back then, they had Dwight Howard, Kevin Quiambao, Justine Baltazar, Heading, and Andre Roberson in the roster.