MANILA, Philippines — Remy Martin and Vanessa de Jesus turned in promising starts Tuesday (Wednesday, Manila time) to usher in the new US NCAA basketball season for Filipino-Americans.
Martin, a super senior, made his debut for Kansas University after previously playing for Arizona State for four years.
As a starter, he scored 15 points in 26 minutes of action.
He also dished out two assists and grabbed six rebounds in Kansas' 87-74 win over Michigan State in the Champions Classic in Madison Square Garden.
Meanwhile, de Jesus officially began her sophomore year with the Duke Blue Devils with a 95-39 thrashing of Winthrop.
The Gilas women prospect tallied seven points, a new career-high eight assists, and six rebounds in an all-around game.
A starting point guard for Duke, de Jesus is hoping for more minutes after playing only four games in her first year with Duke.
Also strutting her stuff in her season opener is fellow Gilas women talent Kiera Oakry of San Diego, which won over University of Hawaii, 86-53.
She was an efficient 4-of-9 from the field, sinking three triples en route to a 12-point performance.
She also had three steals, an assist and a rebound.
Fil-Am Jarod Lucas was a driving force for Oregon State in their 73-64 come-from-behind win over Portland State.
Lucas finished with 16 points, including two clutch free throws with 2:06 ticks left in the game to pad the Beavers' lead to six, 68-62.
He also had six rebounds, three steals, and an assist in the win.
For her part, Ayzhiana Basallo had an efficient night for Arizona State in their 71-41 win over Northern Colorado.
In 16 minutes of action, Basallo went 4-of-6 from the field to finish with 10 points, the only other Sun Devil to finish in twin-digit scoring apart from guard Jade Loville who led the team with 18 points.
Other Fil-Ams taking wins in their first game of the new season were Aurea Gingras of George Washington University, Laila Phelia of Michigan, Melanie Isbell of New Mexico State, and Chinwe Ezeonu of Seattle University.
DJ Mitchell of the University of Hartford and Isabella Mauricio of Brown University absorbed losses to begin the season.
In coaching, Fil-Am coach Mike Magpayo also had a losing start to the new season as his UC Riverside Highlanders lost to San Diego State, 66-53.