Thirdy, Parks welcome Archers

NAGOYA – Japanese B.League Asian imports Thirdy Ravena and Bobby Ray Parks may be playing away from home but they remain connected to the Filipino game. They took time out to show Filipino hospitality to the La Salle coaches and players during the Archers’ five-day visit to this port city.

La Salle assistant coach Mon Jose and strength/conditioning coach Marlon Celis had dinner with Parks at Wolfgang Puck Restaurant and Cafe then they met up with Archers assistant coaches Gian Nazario and Karl Santos for coffee. Ravena came late for the Archers’ last game against D3 team Veertien Mie because he was given wrong directions to the gym but caught up with coach Derick Pumaren. Then, Ravena went out to dinner with the players.

Archers center Bright Nwankwo said he was thrilled to meet Ravena. “It was nice of him to take time out to meet us,” he said. Ben Phillips said playing overseas is an opportunity to represent the flag. “No matter what country you’re playing in, it’s wonderful to show Filipino pride and puso,” he said.

Jose said he goes back a long way with Parks. “We were together at NU when he was a player and I was an assistant coach,” said Jose. “Then I was head coach of our 3x3 team at the Youth Olympics in Singapore in 2010. Our team was made up of Ray, Jeron Teng, Mike Tolomia and Mike Pate.” In that competition, the Philippines finished 9th of 20 and won its last four games over South Africa, Central African Republic, Iran and Puerto Rico. In the prelims, the Philippines lost to Spain by two, Virgin Islands by six and Croatia by three. Aside from their La Salle duties, Jose is assistant coach with Magnolia and Nazario the same with Terrafirma in the PBA.

Parks plays for the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins while Ravena for the San-En NeoPhoenix. Other Filipinos in the B.League are Dwight Ramos, Kiefer Ravena, Matthew Wright, Justine Baltazar, Jay Washington, Jordan Heading, Matthew Aquino, Greg Slaughter, Roosevelt Adams and Kobe Paras. The B.League is split into three divisions – 24 teams in D1, 14 in D2 and 15 in D3. Each team is allowed to recruit three foreign players, two to play at a time, plus a naturalized citizen or Asian import.

La Salle battled four teams in two days here. First in the line of fire was the Nagoya Gakuin University varsity with 6-9 Nigerian Peter Okoye. Then it was the Toyoda Gosei Scorpions, a D3 team, with imports Joe Wolfinger of the University of Washington, Yasin Kolo of East Carolina University and Bellarmine University and JD Weatherspoon of Ohio State and University of Toledo. The Scorpions listed Taiwan’s Steven Tsui of Sunrise Christian Academy as Asian import. Wolfinger, 36, is a 7-foot, 265-pound veteran who has played in Japan since 2012. Kolo, 30, is German while Weatherspoon, 30, played in Finland, Norway, the PBA (Rain or Shine, 2017), Thailand and Mexico before landing in Japan.

The third team was Gifu Swoops, another D3 team. Imports were 6-8 Jerrel Wright of La Salle Philadelphia, 6-8 Senegalese Sambou Andre and 6-9 Lithuanian Matas Jucikas. Veertien will make its D3 debut this season with imports 6-4 Tucker Haymond of Western Michigan University, 6-8 Josh Martin of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Santa Clara University and naturalized 6-9 Dieye Sakamoto. La Salle lost to Nagoya Gakuin by one, Toyoda by 11 and Gifu by 18 then beat Veertien, 89-84, to close out the Archers’ tour.