Is Sam Josef Belangel, the high-scoring guard from Bacolod, as good as advertised?

Local fans will be curious to see what the scoring machine from Taytung High School can do for the Philippine national youth basketball team in the SEABA Under-16 Championships from April 14 to 19 in Cagayan de Oro, but Batang Gilas coach Michael Oliver knows how valuable Belangel is for the team.

“He’s irreplaceable,” Oliver told InterAksyon.com in a telephone interview. “Ramdam mo kaagad kapag inalis mo siya sa loob biglang nagkakaroon ng dip sa laro ng team.”

Oliver said that while Belangel, who will be playing point guard on top handling the brunt of the scoring duties for Batang Gilas, can get buckets, that won’t be the full extent of his responsibilities for the team.

“But more than just the scoring, it’s the leadership of Belangel which is more important. Players really look up to him,” he said.

The Under-16 team played in a couple of tuneup games against several collegiate teams, including UAAP champion National University, NCAA champion San Beda and crack squads in UE, Arellano University and Lyceum.

“Noong naglaro kami against sa mga teams na ito, sineryoso nila talaga kami. We were able to give them a good fight and yun naman talaga ang objective. Kung baga inihanda talaga nila kami sa laban para mas maging ready kami sa SEABA,” the coach shared.

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