Phl U13 sweeps 18U tiff

MANILA, Philippines - Jonas Briones fired 14 points while Vince Cabural and Joshua Santos added 10 each as the Phl Youth 13-Under thumped St. Vincent, 89-74, and finished unscathed in the elimination round of the 18-Under West Triangle Basketball League last week.

With Carlo Altamirano and Earl Lagaras also on the offensive end, the young team of coach Mark Herrera topped the elimination round against older squads in the junior tournament organized by Bgy. Capt. Beng Sia and sports coordinator Nel Parad.

The Under-13 national squad earlier defeated Joses Goto, 90-60, Ferndale, 85-60, Examiner, 81-55, and West Triangle 2, 87-52.

“Our young boys are showing lots of maturity fighting the older kids,” said Herrera who piloted the Talk N Text-QC, now called the Meralco Bolts-QC, to four championships in the Batang PBA summer league.

Herrera, who also calls the shots for the UE Junior Warriors and the Claret senior team, said the team also competed but finished without a win in the tough Filoil Junior Basketball tournament.

“They may have lost all their games but they have not lost the lesson,” said Herrera, whose 13-under program is under the grassroots development program of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas under executive director Sonny Barrios and supported by president Manny V. Pangilinan, vice chairman Ricky Vargas and treasurer Ernesto Jay Adalem.

Herrera is assisted by Andrew Magandi and Benjie Diswe.