PBA vet to coach Phl U-18 girls 3x3

PBA veteran Gerard Francisco will coach the Philippine team at the first FIBA-Asia U-18 girls 3x3 tournament in Bangkok on May 22-24 and said yesterday he’s more nervous calling the shots from the sidelines than playing because of the pressure to win abroad in his first-ever head coaching assignment.

Francisco, 35, said he got the job by default as the other choices were committed to several obligations like Discovery Perlas national coach Haydee Ong, assistant coach Gina Francisco and Adamson University varsity coach Emelia Vera. Discovery Perlas team manager Cynthia Tiu designated Francisco for the job with clearance from the SBP.

Francisco, now coach Caloy Garcia’s assistant with the Letran senior men’s varsity, chose four players for the national team after tryouts that involved over 20 hopefuls since last month. Chosen to comprise the 3x3 squad were 6-2 Jackdaniel Amimam, 14, of Adamson, 5-7 Nicole Cancio, 16, of Poveda, 5-8 Afril Bernardino, 17, of National University and 5-6 Alyana Ong, 18, of La Salle.

“It was difficult to choose the last four,” said Francisco whose father Benjamin played on the Philippine team that took the bronze medal at the FIBA World Championships in Rio de Janeiro in 1954. “We had at least five tryouts then cut down the group to eight before deciding on the four. Because it’s a 3x3 game, we don’t need a point guard. We picked players who can drive and kick, shoot and pass. Our four players have their own specialization like Jack is our rebounder, Alyana our shooter, Nicole our defender and Afril our do-it-all player. We’re lucky that Afril is in our lineup. She plays for coach Pat Aquino at National and will definitely go places with the national senior team. I think she can hold her own with the men’s team.”

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The Philippines has been drawn to play in Group B with Syria, Nepal, Malaysia and Sri Lanka in Bangkok. Group A is made up of Turkmenistan, Jordan, Lebanon, India and Mongolia. Group C is made up of Thailand 1, Chinese-Taipei, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Group D is composed of Macau, China, Thailand 2, Maldives and Indonesia. South Korea, Japan and Iran are not entered in the tournament which is a preview of the event at the Asian Youth Games in Nanjing, China, on Aug. 16-24.

“We practice whenever we can play with the Philippine women’s team starting 5:30 p.m.,” said Francisco, a UST graduate. “In 3x3, you can never relax, you don’t want to be in a position where you’re chasing a lead. We’re confident of what we can do. I think our shooting skills are better than most other countries but you can’t rule out lucky shots especially in a 3x3 game.”

Francisco, a seven-year PBA pro who was named Finals MVP with Sta. Lucia Realty in the 2001 Governors Cup, said there’s no difference in approach to motivating males and females in basketball. “I think the only difference is the level of toughness in practice,” he said.  “I was a national player before and assistant manager of the Philippine team that was sponsored by Powerade (for the FIBA Asia Championships in Tianjin in 2009). But this is my first time to coach a national team. There’s always pressure when you’re with the national team because you’re representing our country.”

Francisco said the 3x3 game features a 12-second shot clock, a 10-minute game and a race to 21 points. It’s a blitz tournament with teams playing two to three games a day. After group teams play each other in the eliminations, the top two finishers of the four brackets advance to the knockout quarterfinals then the survivors battle in the semifinals leading to the finals.

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Francisco and the girls leave for Bangkok tomorrow morning. On the same flight will be coach John Flores and the boys team of Arvin Tolentino, Prince Rivero, Thirdy Ravena and Kobe Paras. Both squads will compete in the U-18 joust.

At the first FIBA-Asia men’s 3x3 tournament that ended the other day in Doha, the Philippines was eliminated by Jordan, 15-10, in the knockout quarterfinals after losing to eventual champion Qatar Maroon, 21-11, and beating Mongolia, 21-13 and Sri Lanka 17-11 in the preliminaries. Jordan was led by 6-1 Ali Fadel El-Zubi who made it to the FIBA-Asia Mythical Three with Qatar Maroon’s 6-0 import Boney Watson of Sam Houston State and Iran’s 6-11 Mousa Nabipour.

Philippine coach Pat Aquino said Jordan towered over the Filipinos with an average height of 6-4. Qatar Maroon beat Saudi Arabia, 19-17, in the finals with Iran taking third place in a playoff over Jordan, 19-8.  Qatar’s players were 6-9 veteran Yaseen Ismail Musa, Watson, 6-5 Khalid Suliman who played at the 2006 FIBA World Championships and 6-5 Malek Saleem Abdullah. The Philippine team of PBA D-League club Blackwater Sports was made up of 6-1 Bacon Austria, 6-4 Kevin Ferrer, 6-3 Gio Ciriacruz and 6-3 Robby Celiz.