Chot lists 20-man pool for pocket tourney

Nine of 10 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) clubs are represented in the 20-man pool that national basketball coach Chot Reyes is deploying for the four-team pocket tournament at the Araneta Coliseum from April 24 to 26.

Reyes is splitting the pool, made up of 18 pros and two amateurs, into two squads for the pocket tournament. Talk ‘N’ Text, San Miguel Beer, Barangay Ginebra and Alaska are contributing three players each. Two players from Purefoods and one apiece from Shell, Coca-Cola, Red Bull and FedEx complete the pro cast. The amateurs are Fil-Am Kelly Williams and Anthony Washington.

Team A is composed of Mike Cortez, Willie Miller, Dondon Hontiveros, Ren-Ren Ritualo, Danny Seigle, Kerby Raymundo, Romel Adducul, Yancy de Ocampo, Sonny Thoss and Williams.

Team B is made up of Jimmy Alapag, Mark Caguioa, James Yap, Tony de la Cruz, Nic Belasco, Eric Menk, Rafi Reavis, Brandon Cablay, Enrico Villanueva and Washington.

Reyes will coach both teams in the pocket tournament. Also seeing action are the Iranian national squad and the Italian club Stranges Papo Movie sponsored by Pirelli. Calling the shots for Iran will be national coach Vladimir Bosnjak of Yugoslavia.

Under tournament rules, both Philippine teams and both foreign entries will not play each other. The two Philippine teams will be in one bracket and the foreign entries in another bracket. A team in one bracket will play the two teams in the other bracket in the first two days. The winner of each bracket will slug it out for the title and a $5,000 first prize on the third day.

Ten of Reyes’ 20 cagers are at least 6-5 with Reavis and de Ocampo the tallest at 6-8. Only Belasco and Menk are 30 and over with 10 players 25 and under. The team has an average height of 6-4 with only Miller and Alapag standing less than 6-0. The average age is 25.8.

Williams, described as "athletic" and "a solid defender" in the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, was a Martin Luther King High School star in Detroit and joined the Oakland University varsity in 2000-01. Oakland is an NCAA Division I school playing in the Mid-Continent Conference. It was promoted to Division I status in 1997-98.

As a Golden Grizzlies freshman, the 6-5 Williams averaged 5.6 points and 5.7 rebounds. "He’s an athlete who can rebound and play D," said Oakland coach Greg Kampe. "He’s probably our top inside defender and he can shoot it. He’s the kind of kid who is really the glue to the team."

Williams broke a vertebra before his sophomore season and was sidelined for seven months. But he didn’t miss a game when he was reactivated. Williams averaged 3.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals an outing in his second year.

As a junior, Williams averaged 3.8 points and 3.4 rebounds.

In his senior season, Williams hit at a 5.7 point clip and grabbed 3.8 rebounds a game as the varsity posted a 13-17 record.

Williams, whose mother Andrea Mata is a full-blooded Filipina from Cebu, was brought in by Reyes from Detroit last week.

Washington, 23 like Williams, was born in Olongapo. His father Victor was a former US Navy serviceman stationed at Subic Naval Base. His mother is Vivian Decatoria of Leyte. He left for the US when he was two and returned here only last September to play in the Philippine Basketball League.

The 6-7 Washington played a year at Queens College in New York and three years at Ekert College, an NCAA Division II school in Florida.