ALLAN THE MAN

FIBA 3x3 sports director Kosta Iliev of Bulgaria was so impressed by the showing of the undermanned Philippine team at the recent 2nd Asian Youth Games in Nanjing that he invited the teenaged boys to compete at the FIBA U-18 World Championships in Jakarta on Sept. 26-29.

But Iliev was told by team coach Nic Jorge that the Philippines had actually qualified for the World Championships by topping the FIBA-Asia joust in Bangkok last June. Representing the country in the Jakarta competition are Ateneo’s Thirdy Ravena, San Beda’s Arvin Tolentino and La Salle’s Kobe Paras and Prince Rivero with John Flores as coach.

Iliev, who is also FIBA Europe sports director, is in charge of promoting 3x3 the world over. The former Bulgarian national player is highly regarded in the global basketball community. A linguist, he speaks English, Serbo-Croatian, German, Russian and Bulgarian.

“Kosta recognized what we did on the court,” said the 71-year-old Jorge who was the Philippine coach when Manila hosted the FIBA World Championships in 1978. “He saw how we battled despite the odds. I think 3x3 is the way of the future for global basketball and it might even be introduced in the Olympics. In Nanjing, we had only three players which was a major handicap. We couldn’t sub and in the game against Saudi Arabia, we ended with only two players after Patrick (Ramirez) fouled out. In the knockout quarterfinals, we almost beat Iran. I hope in the future, the UAAP technical committee will recognize the importance of sending our best players to this competition which is the qualifier for the World Youth Games.”

Jorge initially picked UAAP juniors’ leading scorer Renzo Subido of La Salle Zobel, NU hotshot John Paul Cauilan, Ravena and UST’s Ramirez to comprise the squad. Subido and Cauilan were not allowed to go to Nanjing by their schools after the UAAP technical committee failed to reschedule their games in the junior division. Ravena was advised to skip Nanjing because of his commitment to the World Championships as he would miss too many class hours if he played in both tournaments. Jorge then recruited Xavier’s Isaac Go and San Beda’s Andrei Caracut to fill the slots. He tried to bring in Hope Christian’s John Apacible, the Tiong Lian finals MVP, as a fourth player but the late addition did not make the registration deadline.

“The SBP wrote the UAAP Board about the Asian Youth Games several months ago and the UAAP Board approved the players’ participation,” said Jorge. “The problem was the technical committee didn’t cooperate in adjusting the players’ schedule. You can’t blame their schools for not allowing the players to leave. We expected the technical committee to be cooperative. We were lucky to bring in Patrick, Isaac and Andrei but our application for John came too late. We were the only team in the tournament to compete with three players.”

Under FIBA 3x3 rules, a game is played in one 10-minute period. The team that is first to score 21 points or is ahead at the end of 10 minutes wins. Each team is allowed one timeout. Jorge wasn’t supposed to coach but was forced to take over after Britt Reroma and Allan Ascue were unavailable. “Britt left for the US after his issues with San Beda and is now in Cebu and Allan also couldn’t join us,” said Jorge. “I was supposed to be only the team manager but I ended up making a comeback as coach after over 10 years in retirement. I did a lot of shouting during the games because coaches are not allowed to sit on the bench. Luckily, I’m used to shouting. I enjoyed my unexpected comeback to coaching especially as I made new friends among the other coaches and exchanged ideas on basketball. But coaching is too stressful for me at my age. This was definitely my last appearance as a coach.”

Jorge’s squad opened the tournament on a high note, beating Indonesia, 10-8, Saudi Arabia, 14-10 and Maldives, 21-10. Against Saudi, Ramirez fouled out with 2:44 left and the Philippines on top, 10-8. But Go and Caracut hung on to pull off the win playing two-on-three. In the knockout quarterfinals, the Philippines surged to a 9-1 lead over Iran but ran out of steam. Iran took over the driver’s seat with 48 seconds left. With Iran ahead, 14-13, Go was fouled in a drive to the basket. If he made the shot and the bonus free throw, the Philippines would’ve regained the lead and probably won. But fighting exhaustion, Go missed the field goal and the free throw as Iran escaped to win. It was downhill for the crestfallen Filipinos after the setback. The Philippines finished eighth of 18 after losing classification games to Malaysia, 21-18 and Indonesia, 21-17.

“A 10-minute 3x3 game is very tiring especially if you don’t sub,” said Jorge. “The boys were fatigued and had little left against Malaysia and Indonesia. Because we had only three players, we couldn’t play hard defense. It was like we fought a boxing match with one arm tied behind our back. If we beat Iran, I think we could’ve taken Chinese-Taipei in the semifinals. If only we were supported by the UAAP technical committee, things could’ve been different.”

Jorge said the boys cried after the loss to Iran. “They gave it their all,” he said. “I think they’ll be better players from this experience. Isaac, for instance, knows that with his size, he’s more effective powering his way inside instead of babying his shots. Andrei, who’s only 5-9 and a BEST graduate, was so impressive that Kuwait officials invited him to play in their country. We’re proud of how Isaac, Patrick and Andrei fought for our country. It’s just too bad the UAAP technical committee couldn’t care less about national pride.”

China beat Chinese-Taipei, 21-14, for the gold medal. South Korea tripped Iran, 20-18, for the bronze. Thailand was fifth, Malaysia sixth, Indonesia seventh and the Philippines eighth.

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