Mandaquit, seven others named to Under Armour NBTC All-Star Game

Jason Mandaquit

Jason Mandaquit of Fil-Nation Select leads the late additions for the 2023 Under Armour-NBTC All-Star Game scheduled for Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Mandaquit averaged twenty points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists to lead the US-based's campaign in the NBTC National Finals, and he will join teammate Jacob Bayla in the Ty Tang-coached Team Heart alongside fellow late additions Michael Asoro of SHS-Ateneo de Cebu and Vhoris Marasigan of Batang Tiaong.

Caelum Harris, on the other hand, will be a part of the Cholo Villanueva-coached Team Hustle, which also has tapped Lorence dela Cruz of Winnipeg, Devin Fikes of Toronto, and John Mowell Morales of Batang Tiaong.

For the side events, freshly-crowned NCAA champion Andy Gemao, Arwin Alforque, and George Diamante will face off against Harris and dela Cruz in the Slam Dunk Contest. There will also be a three-point shootout and Skills Challenge, with the field still to be determined.

All of the Sunday festivities will be shown via streaming through the Facebook pages of NBTC, SMART Sports, Puso Pilipinas.

Both division finals will follow the All-Star Game, with the matchup for Division 2 already confirmed.

Team Tarlac pulled off the 86-77 victory against Ateneo, behind the duo of RJ Liwanag and Earl Sapasap. The former led the way with twenty points, four assists, and four steals, while the latter stuffed the stat sheet with twelve points, nine rebounds, nine assists, and seven steals.

Tarlac uncorked a 38-point second quarter before cruising their way in the second half, as they await Don Bosco-Dumaguete, which emerged as 82-58 winners over Homegrown Australia. Matthew Jucom led the way for the Greywolves with twenty points, four rebounds, a couple of assists and a couple of steals.

John Deposoy added fifteen points, three assists, and three steals, as Don Bosco opened the game with a 20-7 run and never looked back.

The Division 1 final will take place afterwards, with the winner of Fil-Nation Select and UST going up against the winner of Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu and National University Nazareth School. The two games are set to completed Saturday night.

Opening things up on Sunday is the inaugural Girls Have Next tournament final between Fil-Nation Select and NUNS. The two squads emerged out of the round robin matches that took place at the Pretty Huge facility in Taguig.

The NBTC National Finals is backed by Smart, SM, Strong Realty and Development Corp., Under Armour, and Molten. It is also supported by Tecno, Regent, Rebisco, Jollibee, San Miguel Corp., Maynilad, Rebel Sports Pilipinas, MNL Kingpin, Gatorade, Swish App by NBN23, Victory Liner, Jasper Jean, Darlington, Exped, Mr. Freeze, Coach E Basketball School, Lighthouse Events, and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.