Wolves, JGDL target title

In only his sixth month with a rookie Lithuanian team, Juan Gomez de Liano of the Philippines is two games away from winning a European basketball championship. 

The BC Wolves, which took over an existing franchise based in Alytus, Lithuania in June, have qualified for the European North Basketball League (ENBL) semifinals on Tuesday night at Arena Ostrow in Poland at 10 p.m. (Manila time). Should the Wolves win, they play in the finals the following night. 

Gomez de Liano, who played for the Philippine national team and was PBA D-League Most Valuable Player, joined the club in October. He became the first homegrown male basketball player to play professionally in Europe.

After a nervous, scoreless start in his debut, Gomez de Liano fired 22 points and registered five steals and four assists against Valmiera Glass Via on the road. Since then, the 6’1” point guard has averaged 4 points and 1.4 assists in only 10 minutes a game, on a stacked squad that includes four American imports and three Lithuanian national team members in its line-up. Former Indiana Pacers guard Ahmad Caver leads the team in several statistical categories. Bear in mind that Lithuania is eighth in FIBA’s world rankings.

Gomez de Liano had to adjust to the biting winter cold and heavy playing schedule in Lithuania. The Wolves played the first six of their seven elimination-round games on the road, swinging through Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Israel before finally getting a home game in Alytus. Juan, the smallest player on the team, has bulked up in the last six months, and plays both guard spots. He has teamed up very efficiently with the 6’2” Caver and 6’4” Lithuanian Adas Juskevicius in the backcourt.

The top four teams of each group in the 15-team ENBL advanced to the quarterfinals. To make it out of Group B, the Wolves needed to defeat previously unbeaten Polish team King Wilki Morskie Szczecin in their last elimination-round game. The new franchise advanced to the quarterfinals, overcoming Ukraine’s BC Budivelnyk, thus setting up a rematch with King Szczecin for the right to advance to the finals. Tuesday’s winner faces the victor between BM Stal and Polski Cukier Start Lublin at 3 a.m. Thursday (Manila time).

Two weeks ago, after eliminating Budivelnyk, the Wolves parted ways with head coach Rimas Kurtinaitis, the top scorer on the former USSR’s Olympic gold medal-winning team in 1988. Under new coach and Lithuanian national assistant Kestutis Kemzura, the squad has won two important games in the Lithuanian Basketball League or LKL, where they are simultaneously playing. The Wolves are in solo third in the very tough LKL, whose two leading teams include the rest of the Lithuanian national team. 

With the change in coaching staff, Filipino fans are hoping that Gomez de Liano will get more consistent minutes and continue to improve. If things go well this week, Gomez de Liano will become the first Filipino basketball player to win a championship in Europe. His mother Anna, brother Javi and sister Maria took advantage of the Easter holiday to be with him in Poland providing moral support.