Japeth Aguilar gets FIBA nod for alley-oop

Barangay Ginebra forward Japeth Aguilar is now the PBA’s leading scorer in the Philippine Cup and to add to his growing list of accolades, he was recently cited by FIBA for his throw-down as the best alley-oop play of 2013 in an on-line poll no doubt dominated by Filipino posts.

FIBA communications director Patrick Koller, writing from the federation head office in Mies, a Swiss border village near Geneva, alerted The Star on an article published in fiba.com about the 6-9 frontliner who scored 29 points against Alaska last Saturday to seize the top spot of the PBA scoring ladder with a 19.69 average.

Aguilar, who turned 27 last Friday, dislodged Talk ‘N’ Text’s Jayson Castro at the top of the scoring heap. Aguilar also leads the league in free throws made with 105 and blocked shots with 3.5 swats a game. He ranks No. 3 in field goal percentage at 55, No. 3 in average minutes played with 37.19 and No. 6 in rebounding with a norm of 9.38 boards. The PBA’s first overall draft pick in 2009, Aguilar played only a game for Burger King as a rookie then moved full-time to Gilas before returning to the pros with Talk ‘N’ Text in 2011-12 and Globalport last season. He’s with his fourth PBA team, counting Burger King (now Air 21), and the former Ateneo star has finally found a home at Ginebra which opens its best-of-seven semifinal series against San Mig Coffee at the Mall of Asia Arena tonight.

FIBA described Aguilar’s alley-oop as one of the signature plays at the FIBA-Asia Championships in Manila last year. The Philippines finished second in the tournament, earning a ticket to the FIBA World Cup in Spain on Aug. 30-Sept. 14 and a return to the global conclave after 36 years.

The play involved Gabe Norwood lobbing a long inbounds looper which Aguilar caught in mid-air to slam it through with 7.2 seconds left in the Philippines’ game against Qatar. Aguilar finished with 14 points in the game and as FIBA mentioned, gave the fans “something to talk about for the rest of the tournament.” The throw-down garnered 2,287 votes in the poll conducted by fiba.com worldwide.

Koller said “the best of Aguilar on the international stage is yet to come.” He noted that while the alley-oop play was a fitting climax to Gilas’ 80-70 decision over Qatar, the more important fact was it came in the middle of a five-game winning streak that propelled the Philippines to the finals. Koller cited Aguilar’s impressive stats in the Philippine Cup as indicators of what to expect in the World Cup. He rattled off Aguilar’s numbers of 21 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots in a 97-95 victory over Talk ‘N’ text and 22 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocked shots in a 76-68 triumph over Air 21.

“The Philippines is going to run into the toughest competition they have ever faced when they compete at the World Cup and Aguilar will no doubt have his hands full on both ends of the floor,” said fiba.com. “The chance to go up against the best is something that he and everyone else in the Philippine squad are very excited about.”

So far, 20 countries have been confirmed to participate in the FIBA World Cup with the draw scheduled in Barcelona on Feb. 3. The 20 countries, in order of their FIBA ranking, are No. 1 US, No. 2 Spain, No. 3 Argentina, No. 4 Lithuania, No. 8 France, No. 9 Australia, No. 11 Serbia, No. 13 Slovenia, No. 15 Angola, No. 16 Croatia, No. 17 Puerto Rico, No. 19 New Zealand, No. 20 Iran, No. 24 Mexico, No. 26 Dominican Republic, No. 31 Korea, No. 34 Philippines, No. 41 Senegal, No. 45 Ukraine and No. 46 Egypt.

Koller said the FIBA Central Board will decide the four countries to receive wild cards during a meeting in Barcelona on Feb. 1. The 15 candidates for wild cards are, in order of their FIBA rankings, No. 5 Greece, No. 6 Russia, No. 7 Turkey, No. 10 Brazil, No. 12 China, No. 14 Germany, No. 18 Nigeria, No. 21 Italy, No. 25 Canada, No. 28 Venezuela, No. 37 Israel, No. 39 Finland, No. 40 Poland, No. 42 Qatar and No. 57 Bosnia-Herzogovina. The teams all competed in their continental or zonal championships which were the qualifiers for the World Cup.

“All 15 (are) still in the race,” said Koller in an e-mail to The Star. “No shortlist by the Central Board. All the participating national federations have been invited (to the draw). We are still waiting to see who will be in Barcelona. There will be a delegation from the US but I don’t expect coach Mike Krzyzewski to come as he’s busy coaching (in the NCAA).” Gilas coach Chot Reyes, team manager Aboy Castro and logistics officer Andrew Teh will form the Philippine delegation attending the draw.

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