Oniga seeks payback

MANILA, Philippines - Smart Gilas battles the Applied Science University (ASU) of Jordan in the featured game of the 22nd FIBA-Asia Champions Cup at the Philsports Arena tonight and there’s more than just the top slot in Group A at stake.

Both ASU coach Fred Oniga of Nigeria and Gilas coach Rajko Toroman of Serbia are out to settle a score. Oniga was replaced by Toroman as Iran national coach in 2007 and missed the chance of participating in the Beijing Olympics. When Oniga left, Toroman took Iran to the top of the FIBA-Asia Championships in Tokushima and earned in the process a ticket to the 2008 Olympics. Oniga lost the experience of a lifetime.

For Toroman, he’d like nothing better than to avenge the Philippines’ bitter loss to Jordan in the 2009 FIBA-Asia Championships in Tianjin. Jordan booted the Philippines out of contention, 81-70, in the knockout quarterfinals. Jordan eventually finished third and the Philippines, eighth. In the 2007 FIBA-Asia Championships, Jordan also beat the Philippines, 84-76.

In last year’s Champions Cup, Gilas and ASU didn’t cross paths. Gilas lost a 74-63 decision to Al Riyadi of Lebanon in the knockout quarterfinals and went on to place seventh while ASU wound up fourth.

Tonight’s duel will determine the No. 1 seed in Group A as both Gilas and ASU are unbeaten with identical 3-0 records. The top finisher will play Group B’s No. 4 seed in a crossover knockout quarterfinal pairing.

“I expect a tough game,” said Toroman. “Coach Oniga is a very experienced coach who has been with the Jordan national team for years. I think Jordan hasn’t played up to its full potential so far, maybe because some of the players just joined from other leagues. Jordan was the last team to arrive in Manila so they’re only getting adjusted.”

The ASU cagers are all veterans of the Jordan national squad. The standouts are 6-6 Sam Dahgles, 6-8 Zaid Abbas, 6-7 Enver Soobzokov, 5-11 Mousa Alawadi and 6-6 Islam Abbas. In ASU’s 74-66 win over Duhok of Iraq last Saturday, Zaid Abbas was scoreless as Oniga played the Chinese league stalwart sparingly. Soobzokov, whose grandfather was Russian, also went scoreless and didn’t even play in ASU’s 79-69 decision over Al Ittihad Jeddah of Saudi Arabia last Monday.

It’s possible that Oniga is keeping aces up his sleeves for the game against Gilas. In FIBA-Asia tournaments, coaches usually pull their punches in the early stages to throw off rival scouts.

Toroman said if Gilas makes it to No. 1 at the end of the single-round phase, its Group B opponent in the knockout quarterfinals will likely be either Al Jala’a of Syria or Al Shabab of the United Arab Emirates.

“The road to the finals won’t be easy at all,” said Toroman. “There’s Jordan to contend with then if we win, we go up against either Syria or the United Arab Emirates.”

Syria is bannered by NBA veteran Samaki Walker and Jamaal Miller while Al Shabab leans on high-scoring Courtney Fields, Rashed Al Zaabi and Ali Hattawi.

Toroman said Lebanon, Qatar and back-to-back defending champion Iran are serious title contenders.

“Iran’s coach (Mehran Shahintab) is a great motivator and very well-respected,” he said. “The players listen to him. He’s an ex-policeman so he knows how to instill discipline. I’ve known all his players since my assignment in Iran. Samad (Bahrami) is back in form after undergoing knee therapy for eight months. Doctors advise him to rest completely at least two months in a year. Babak (Nezafat) could easily make it to the national team. Mahdi (Kamrani) is still the leader in the backcourt. Their imports (Cheikh Samb and Chris Williams) are excellent players. For Lebanon, Fadi (El Khatib) is as strong as ever. There’s talk that Loren Woods is a candidate for naturalization to replace Jackson Vroman. The other import Moneim Ismail is a clever and strong power forward from Egypt. He has played with Al Riyadi for over five years. As for Qatar, they’ve got import Chauncey Leslie, Yaseem Musa, Tanguy Ngombo and Mame Souleye Ndour.”

Ngombo is from Congo and Ndour from Senegal.

Toroman said PBA recruit Dondon Hontiveros has been a positive influence on Gilas. “He’s a real professional,” he added. “Dondon has a very high basketball IQ. It doesn’t take long for him to execute what we want. He understands the game well. Asi (Taulava) is also a great addition. Jimmy (Alapag) comes to all our practices and games. He encourages the players. He’s serious about his commitment to the national team. We’ll miss Jimmy and Kelly (Williams) in the Champions Cup. We need Kelly at the four position to defend against players like Ismail. The PBA Governors Cup will end Aug. 16 at the latest so since the Jones Cup is on Aug. 6-14, Jimmy and Kelly may not be able to join us until the FIBA-Asia Championships in September.”