Wright recalls first Philippines stint

SEABA’s most efficient player Matthew Wright said he’ll forever cherish the memory of wearing the Philippine colors in Gilas’ 6-0 sweep of the FIBA Asia sub-zone conclave before the homecrowd last week. Wright, 26, averaged 12 points and shot a higher clip from three-point range (54.5 percent) than two-point distance (39 percent). The Fil-Canadian led the tournament in three-point accuracy and in efficiency with a plus-minus factor of 35.

What Wright will also never forget was his debut with the Philippine team at the FIBA Asia U18 Championships in Tehran in 2008 under coach Franz Pumaren. “I owe coach Franz and I learned a lot from him,” said Wright. “He took me into the team, sight unseen. Norbert (Torres) told coach Franz about me because we’ve known each other from Canada. I was this skinny kid with an Afro. I was playing high school ball. I jumped into the situation and it was a wonderful learning experience.”

Wright made his mark in Tehran when he led the Philippines in scoring with 13 points in an 85-84 upset of eventual champion Iran in the quarterfinal round. That turned out to be Iran’s only loss in the 15-nation competition. The Philippines finished with a 4-4 mark and landed in seventh place after beating Lebanon, 74-63. Wright shot 16 in an 86-63 loss to China and dished out four assists in a 106-105 double overtime win over Chinese-Taipei. Among Wright’s teammates were Ian Sangalang, Frank Golla, R. R. Garcia, Jaypee Mendoza, Joseph Marata, Gab Banal and Torres.   

After the Tehran tournament, Wright played with the St. Bonaventure varsity in the US NCAA Division I for four seasons up to 2013-14. St. Bonaventure is a private Catholic school in New York and its basketball stars include NBA legend Bob Lanier and former PBA import Glenn Hagan. Wright raised his scoring clip every year with the varsity from 4.7 points as a freshman to 6.8 to 7.3 to 16.3 as a senior.

From St. Bonaventure, Wright played a year in France then three seasons with the Westports Dragons in the ABL. He was picked by Phoenix in the special Gilas draft last year. As a PBA rookie in the recent Philippine Cup, Wright averaged 18.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 12 games.

SBP president Al Panlilio said the other day his concerns for Gilas looking forward to the FIBA Asia Cup in Lebanon in August and the start of the Asian/Pacific qualifiers in November are what could be a short preparation period and the travel factor. “What we’re concerned about is the preparation Gilas needs for each game in the qualifiers,” said Panlilio. “There’s also the travel factor as for instance, we play Australia away on Feb. 22 then fly back to Manila where we play Japan three days later.”

Panlilio said under the terms of the Memorandum of Agreement between the SBP and the PBA, the Gilas pro rookies will be released by their PBA mother teams for national team training two months before a tournament and the PBA veterans, two weeks. He said the MOA covers major competitions like the FIBA Asia Cup, the Asian/Pacific qualifiers, the World Cup and the Olympics.

 Panlilio will be out of the country when the PBA Board convenes for its monthly meeting on Thursday. He said he plans to request for a special Board meeting in early June to submit Gilas’ schedule. Panlilio said he hopes to bring up the issue of the PBA players’ availability for Gilas in light of the conflict with the PBA season.

 Not too many fans noticed that there was an Olympian who played at the recent SEABA Championships here. Vietnamese star Nguyen Van Hung saw action in the +80 kilogram division in taekwondo at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was ousted in the first round by eventual bronze medalist Chika Chukwumerije of Nigeria, 3-1.

The 6-4 Van Hung is a five-time taekwondo +84 kilogram SEA Games gold medalist from 1999 to 2007 and a 2002 Asian Games silver medalist. Van Hung, 37, averaged 11.8 points and 10 rebounds in six SEABA games. He retired from taekwondo in 2009.  Van Hung plays for the Saigon Heat in the ABL and coaches the Thanh Hoa taekwondo club.