Ranged against the region’s best high school teams, the NUNS Bullpups found the going a little tougher than expected in Singapore.
SINGAPORE – They say the best way to know how good you really are is to measure yourself against the best of the best. By this token, the National University-Nazareth School (NUNS) Bullpups have discovered that there’s still work to be done before they can be called one of the Asia-Pacific’s best high school teams.
The Bullpups have just concluded their campaign in the maiden edition of NBA Rising Stars Invitational, a pocket tournament held in Singapore featuring 12 of the best boy’s high school teams and 10 of the best girls’ high school teams from 11 countries across the Asia-Pacific. They beat teams from Thailand and Malaysia but a tough loss to a team from Korea in the group stage relegated them to the classification round.
Overall, the team enjoyed the experience, but they also admit that they were a little surprised by the level of competition.
“First of all, I want to thank the NBA for this opportunity,” said NUNS Bullpups coach Kevin De Castro. “We’re very blessed and honored to represent the country and the entire school.”
De Castro said there were positives and negatives to take home. “Yung positives, we learned a lot from different international schools. At the same time, yung negatives, takeaways namin siguro we have to apply kung ano pa yung kailangan naming improve as a team. And in preparation na rin for our UAAP season.”
De Castro added that the competition was “a little bit tougher than I thought. Yung experience, like Friday’s game (against the) Korean team. Hindi namin na-control yung emotions namin and that caused us the game. Pero yun, something to look forward.”
Individually, De Castro said he was “very proud” of the performance of forward Chester Tulabut.
“Hindi ko siya expected na malalabas niya yung talent dito sa trip namin.”
Guard Rob Celiz, who has been in Singapore since last week as one of the Philippines’ representatives to Basketball Without Borders Asia, echoed his coach’s observations about the quality of the competition.
“Masasabi ko yung huwag i-underestimate yung mga kalaban namin. Hindi lang kalaban, yung sarili rin namin. Sabi ni Coach Kev na lagi kaming mag-go hard. So, yun, para hindi kami naghahabol hanggang huli.
Celiz said he was surprised by the competitiveness of their opponents.
“Sobrang competitive nila sa loob ng court and outside the court. Kasi sobrang competitive talaga nila sa amin. So, nung nakalaban namin sila sa court, parang iba talaga sila. Parang iba yung spirit nila maglaro sa loob ng court. Like, sobrang disiplina nila, sobrang work ethic. Sobrang iba talaga.”
Somber note
While the NUNS Bullpups ended their campaign with a win, their trip here was marred by the sad and shocking news that came out of Manila late Friday that their fellow NUNS athlete, NUNS Lady Bullpups and Gilas Youth stalwart Ashlyn Abong, had died after collapsing during a practice session.
The NUNS Bullpups then decided to dedicate their final game against Hin Hua High School of Malaysia to the memory of Ashlyn. They ended up winning 82-58.
De Castro said it was stunning to hear that an 18-year-old like Ashlyn would suddenly just pass away.
“Hindi natin expected talaga. So, we’re still gonna pray for her and we’ll be there for the team. She’s one of our great players sa Nazareth School. So, yun nga, hindi namin expected.”
De Castro said he had already spoken to Lady Bullpups to Camilla Escoto. The Lady Bullpups were actually also slated to play in the NBA RSI but had to pull out at the last minute after some players reportedly came down with chicken pox.
“Coming here (to Singapore), we also wanted to dedicate this experience to them,” De Castro said. “Kasi nga, they pulled out of the tournament.”
Celiz said Ashlyn was such a kind and helpful person.
“Sobrang bait niya and sobrang matulungin,” he said. “Lagi niyang tinutulungan yung mga kasama niya. Kahit din kami pag nasa loob ng gym, tinutulungan niya kami. Kaya sobrang nalungkot lang kami. Nalungkot kasi hindi namin in-expect yung nangyari kay Ashlyn.
“Para sa kanya itong larong ito kasi nalaman namin siya kahapon (Friday) lang e. So, itong game na ito para kay Ashlyn ito. And sa buong family ni Ashlyn.”
Banner Images from NBA Rising Stars Invitational.