MANILA – Strong Group-Philippines has been slotted in a tough group in the 33rd Dubai International Basketball Championship, which will begin this Friday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Dwight Howard-led Strong Group-Philippines will kick off their Group B campaign against the United Arab Emirates national men’s basketball team tonight (11:15 p.m., Philippine time).
They will follow this up with a game against the Syria’s Al Wehda on January 20 (9:15 p.m. Philippine time) and Lebanon’s Homenetmen on January 21 (11:15 p.m. Philippine time).
After a one-day break, the Charles Tiu-mentored Strong Group-Philippines will return to action against the Lebanon’s Beirut Club on January 23 (January 24, 1:15 a.m. Philippine time).
The Philippine representatives will then conclude their group stage match against Libya’s Al Ahli Tripoli on January 24 (January 25, 1:15 a.m. Philippine time).
Aside from Howard, also leading the way for the Strong Group-Philippines team are former Gilas Pilipinas center Andray Blatche, McKenzie Moore and former NBA forward Andre Roberson.
Completing the Strong Group-Philippines team are locals Kevin Quiambao, Justin Baltazar, Jordan Heading, JD Cagulangan, Francis Escandor, Allen Liwag, Winston Ynot, and Justine Sanchez.
“I like the team so far. What we’ve been seeing is that we have a great group of guys. Nobody complains, you know, not even Dwight, he listens to everything we’ve asked. And I’m so happy to have Coach Brian [Goorjian] here to help me out,” Tiu said.
“We tend to look at the bigger picture (since) we have seven games in 10 days, so it’s not easy on the body. It might be one game somebody stepping up and another game that’s somebody else but so far, the egos have been really good, so that’s been good for us,” he added.
Teams in Group A, meanwhile, are defending champion Al Riyadi and Sagasse SC of Lebanon, AS Sale of Morocco, Tunisia national team, Al-Nassr of UAE, and Al Ahly Benghazi of Libya./PN
