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HARBOUR
Centre team owner and amateur basketball godfather Mikee
Romero guaranteed a gold-medal finish by the Philippine
team in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba)
Champions Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Despite
having only one import in Sam Ekwe, Romero and head
coach Jorge Gallent expressed confidence the Nationals
will go home next week with gold medals hanging from
their necks.
“The
Filipino fighting heart will be our best weapon in the
Seaba tournament. When we come home next week, we’ll be
bringing the gold medal for the Philippines,” said
Romero Tuesday in the weekly Philippine Sportswriters
Association Forum at the Shakey’s United Nations Avenue.
“The
odds are against us because we have only one import,
while other teams have two. But with Sam and Jason
[Castro] leading the team, we will play with our heart
just to defend the crown,” Romero added.
With
Romero and Gallent in the forum were team manager Erick
Arejola, Ekwe and Castro.
The
Filipino dribblers will leave Wednesday morning for
Jakarta and will meet Thailand, which is fielding its
national squad, first on Friday, followed by Indonesia
the next day, and the Boyzie Zamar-coached Malaysia on
Sunday.
According to Gallent, Indonesia has two imports with
National Basketball Association experience, while
Malaysia has a Cameroon import and will hire an
ex-Philippine Basketball Association center as its
second reinforcement.
“I think
we have a very good chance, because we have already
played against them last year so, more or less, we
already knew how they play,” said Gallent, who will call
the shots in lieu of Junel Baculi.
Romero
said the Seaba tournament will be a big test for the
24-year-old Ekwe, who is being groomed by the Basketball
Association of the Philippines-Samahang Basketbol ng
Pilipinas (BAP-SBP) as a naturalized player for him to
don the country’s colors in international tournaments.
“This
would be the shining moment for Ekwe,” said Romero. “His
rebounding and shot-blocking skills are his assets for
this team.”
Ekwe, a
native of Nigeria who has been in the country for the
last three years suiting up for San Beda College in the
National Collegiate Athletic Association, said he was
honored to be part of the team.
“This is
my first step to be successful in basketball,” Ekwe said
in broken English. “I’ll give my best to help the team.”
Meanwhile, Romero has agreed to bankroll the Philippine
team to the William R. Jones Cup in
Taiwan
in July but dropped the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup in
Kuwait
in May. He said he could not probably prepare a
competitive team for the Kuwait stint on short notice.
After a
meeting with Philippine Basketball League commissioner
Chino Trinidad and BAP-SBP executive director Patrick
Gregorio, Romero said they could form a competitive team
for the Jones Cup.
“We plan
to regain the title in the Jones Cup,” said Romero. The
Centennial Team of professionals and coached by Tim Cone
of Alaska won the Jones Cup for the Philippines the last
time in 1998.
The team
will be composed of the best players in the PBL and will
be reinforced by four PBA players whose teams will be
eliminated early in the ongoing Fiesta Cup. |
