REYES
GILAS assistant coach Josh Reyes urged University of the Visayas (UV) standout Jancork Cabahug to keep his head held high and continue to work on his game as he takes the next step of his career.
This, after Cabahug complained of limited minutes in the SM NBTC League National High School All Star Game last Thursday where the South team lost to their North counterparts, 89-94.
Reyes coached the South team in that game where Cabahug played for just six minutes and 33 seconds during the entire game.
In a report that was published in a local daily, Cabahug decried his minute playing time.
Reyes said that he tried his best to balance out the playing time amongst all the talented youngsters.
“I tried to balancing out the minutes but since we had a big deficit early and wanted to make a good game out of it, the rotation stuck to those who were part of the comeback. It’s quite hard to balance out minutes with 15 players and 10-minute quarters, but that’s basketball,” said Reyes, the son of national team head coach Chot Reyes and the nephew of current Southwestern University-Phinma athletic director, Mike Reyes.
“It didn’t help also that the Filipino-foreign player assigned to me was Kamaka Hepa, who was playing his position,” explained Reyes, referring to the 6-foot-9 Fil-Alaskan US NCAA Division 1 prospect.
Talented player
“I actually thought he did quite well when we started him in the second half. Then our run happened after. Kind of went with my gut na and gunned for the win. I didn’t realize that he only got six minutes. That’s my fault,” added the one-time Gilas Cadet head coach.
However, Reyes went on to say that he believed big things were in store for Cabahug and that he should move forward from this episode.
“He’s really good. He’ll definitely get more chances. Things like this happen to the best of them. He’s a top player, and as such, I’d like to think he is mentally tough enough to brush it off and continue to do the good work he’s been doing. Setbacks happen all the time in basketball. I apologize if they felt wronged but the kid won’t be measured by that game. He’ll play a lot more games that matter.”
NBTC head Eric Altamirano also shared that playing time was the coach’s to divvy up.
“It’s a privilege to be named (to the All Star Game). Hindi natin control yung coach. Discretion na ni Josh (Reyes) yun,” Altamirano said.
The same report also claimed that the versatile 6-foot-3 forward was made to pay for the Nike shoes that the rest of the Division 1 All Star participants got for free and that he was not refunded for his plane ticket going to Manila.
Cabahug’s claims were vehemently denied by Marissa Altamirano, the wife of NBTC founder Eric, and the Head for Operations and Administrative at the International Basketball Academy of the Philippines.
In a brief chat with Cebu Daily News yesterday, Cabahug said the shoes he wore were indeed free. But when pressed further on the statement, Cabahug did not reply anymore.