Castro named to Mythical Five even as other Gilas players fare well in Jones Cup
As among the best players in Asia, Jayson Castro added another feather on his cap in making the Mythical Selection in the just concluded Jones Cup Invitational Basketball Tournament in Taipei.
Also a Mythical Five awardee in the last FIBA Asia tourney, Castro further cemented his status as among the region’s best in gaining individual honors in the Jones Cup with Iran’s Hamed Haddadi and Mahdi Kamrani, Korea’s Moon Taeyoung and Taipei’s Lin Chih Chieh.
Haddadi, the dominant center of eventual champion Iran, bagged the MVP award.
Castro gained the nod of the tournament organizers being Gilas Pilipinas’ No. 1 all-around weapon in the tourney where the Filipinos (6-2) placed second to Iran (7-1).
The Talk n Text stalwart, a Gilas mainstay for three years now, churned out averages of 13.3 points, 3.16 rebounds and also 3.16 assists in six games.
He sat out their games against Russia and the USA.
Terrence Romeo was a revelation in the tourney but missed the last three games due to a sprained ankle suffered in their game against Iran.
Before the Gilas-Iran game, the Globalport hotshots topscored in their first four games against Chinese Taipei, South Korea, Russia and Japan.
He wound up with a team-high norm of 15.2 points with a personal tournament-high of 23 in their 82-70 loss to Korea.
Romeo also logged one assist and one steal a game in his first ever international tournament.
Gary David and Calvin Abueva were two other Gilas players who averaged in double figures.
David averaged 11.0 an outing while Abueva, also another Gilas rookie, piled up norms of 10.1 points and 6.25 rebounds (the team’s best).
Dondon Hontiveros sparkled with a game-high 21 points in their 92-88 win in overtime over New Zealand, and ended up with an average of 9.2 in five games.
Ranidel de Ocampo was helpful in his return from an injury, scoring 7.5 points an outing.
Big men Moala Tautuaa and Asi Taulava had decent stints with the former piling up 6.3 points and 5.1 boards an outing and the latter coming through with 5.7 markers and 5.4 caroms a game.
Abueva and Tautuaa saw action in all eight games; Taulava, Gabe Norwood and Matt Ganuelas played seven games; Castro, David, De Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Troy Rosario, JC Intal, Sonny Thoss strutted their stuffs in six matches; while Romeo, Hontiveros and Akdrech Ramos played five games.
Jimmy Alapag was limited to minimal minutes in two games due to an injury. (SB)
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