THE country’s bid to retain the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) Champions Cup now lies heavily on the broad shoulders of Nigerian Sam Ekwe.

This, after the coaching staff and management of the Harbour Centre-backed Philippine team opted not to get any foreign reinforcement besides Ekwe for the four-nation tournament slated this week in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Team manager Erick Arejola said they decided to stick with Ekwe in order not to disrupt the team’s chemistry.

“It maybe too late for us to get a second import because he might need time to adjust with the other players,” said Arejola. “But we are hoping that Sam can get the job done for us.”

Team consultant Junel Baculi also believes that Ekwe can help the country defend the Seaba title even if he lacks certain offensive skills.

Alex Crisano was reportedly being considered by the team as its second import, but that didn’t materialize. They also considered Gabe Norwood but his Hapee Toothpaste squad has games during the Seaba tournament.

Crisano, a six-foot-seven center, played for the Harbour Centre-backed training team for the Southeast Asian Games last year but failed to secure documents that would support his Filipino lineage and was dropped from the roster.

Ekwe, responsible for San Beda College’s back-to-back titles in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, has been practising with the team that would be coached by Jorge Gallent for almost a month now. He has been watching the games of Harbour Centre in the Philippine Basketball League to familiarize himself with his would-be teammates.

“I’ll give my best to help the team win,” said the six-foot-eight Ekwe, who in the Basketball Association of the Philippines-Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) wants naturalized so he could play for the country.

The national team will leave on Wednesday. The Filipino dribblers face Thailand on April 4, host Indonesia on the next day and Malaysia on April 6.

Curiously, the Malaysian basketball team is being handled by former national coach Boyzie Zamar.

With Ekwe as the team’s only import, Gallent hopes that his other big men like Beau Belga and Jerwin Gaco could hold against the other teams’ imports. Jason Castro, Al Vergara, Jonathan Fernandez, Boyet Bautista, Filipino-American Solomon Mercado, TY Tang and Jeff Chan are expected to make the final lineup of the team.

The top two teams in the Seaba tournament will qualify to the FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Kuwait from May 18 to 26. This tournament is also being offered by BAP-SBP to Harbour Centre.

Ekwe Harbour Centre-RP’s sole import

THE country’s bid to retain the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) Champions Cup now lies heavily on the broad shoulders of Nigerian Sam Ekwe.

Korean and Thai top Mitsubishi netfest

Cho Soong-Jae and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn took different routes in winning their respective divisions in the 19th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Tennis Championships Sunday at the Rizal Tennis Center.

Luisito Espinosa is knocking on Malacañang’s doors in his quest to secure the prize money in a title fight he appeared in more than 10 years ago.

ATENEO survived Lyceum’s determined stand in the first two sets then asserted its might in the third to complete a 25-23, 29-27, 25-17 victory at the start of the Shakey’s V-League’s fifth season at The Arena in San Juan on Sunday.

THE Asian Tour and the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP), in cooperation with host venue Wack Wack Golf and Country Club, will launch the 92nd edition of the $300,000 Philippine Open, Asia’s oldest national championship, with the “Meet the Players” press conference on Tuesday in Mandaluyong City.

A FIGHTING Philippine team gave a good account of itself against a superior field at the Asian Duathlon Championship Sunday in Chiangsaen Chianrai province, Thailand, and finished second in the team event while its young entries came up with podium finishes.

WHEREVER there are ballparks or arenas, there are memories.

I paraphrased that from Tom Stanton’s book The Final Season (not to be confused with the baseball movie with the same title) where the author attended every single home game of the Detroit Tigers in their swansong campaign at the old and venerable Tiger Stadium in 1999 in an attempt to explore what the venue and the sport meant to him and four earlier generations of his family.