Webb to concentrate on keeping basketball crown
Webb to concentrate on keeping basketball crown
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AFP): Filipino guard Jason Webb, 21, must blot out thoughts of family tragedy to concentrate on defending the Philippines' basketball crown at the Southeast Asian Games here. The Philippines plays its opening match against Singapore tomorrow.
Webb's older brother Hubert is in jail perhaps for life on charges of three murders and a rape he says he did not commit.
Hubert Webb, 25, and six other men are accused of raping a woman in mid-1993 and murdering her along with her mother and a younger sister.
His father, Senator Freddie Webb, himself a former amateur basketball star, and other family members have faced verbal abuse. Jason Webb gets catcalls when he plays in both the amateur Philippine Basketball league and in the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines league.
"It doesn't bother me anymore," Jason Webb told AFP. "I've learned to live with the abuse."
Only the basketball gold will satisfy the hoop-crazy nation.
"Filipinos can accept defeat in Chiang Mai, but not in basketball," said the Philippine Inquirer newspaper. "That would be unforgivable."
Making the task more difficult is the fact that many of the country's best players have migrated to the Philippine Basketball Association professional league and are wary of playing for the national team for fear of picking up injuries that could invalidate million-dollar contracts.
Coach Joe Lipa has cobbled together a team of college players that has been through a crash diet of tough matches abroad against seven clubs in China and South Korea.
"We have a great team," Lipa said. "Our main problem will be ourselves."
The inexperienced team's median age is 22. But they use their youthful energy to mount a blinding motion offense and tough man- to-man defense.
The team's star is Marlou Aquino, a 6ft 9in. (2.06-meter) beanpole. At 23, he is the oldest on the team and will become a millionaire when he turns pro next month.
Malaysia and Indonesia cannot be counted out in the seven-team field, but the Filipinos' chief rival will be Thailand, said Indonesian trainer Hermansyah Bambang.
Thai coach Channarong Piyawongpipul is still smarting from a five-point loss to a similar young Filipino pick-up team two years ago in the Singapore SEA Games final.
"The key to beating them is speed," said Channarong, who hopes the home-court advantage will be enough to win this time.
His more mature team remains unchanged from 1993 except for three players. Only three Filipinos remain from the 1993 final.
The outcome could depend on the fitness of 1.94m Thai center Ongart Homlaor, whose job is to keep Aquino away from the hoop and the boards. Ongart, limping from a sprain, did not complete his team's last practice.