Every July, the Philippines sends out a representative to play in the 2019 William Jones Cup. It may be the national team itself, a juniors squad, a club, or, just last year, a varsity team.
With that, it is rare for a Filipino cager to play in the pocket tournament for two straight years.
Aaron Black though will probably be the first to do so.
“Last year, I played with Ateneo last year. We finished fourth,” shared the second generation cager, who averaged 2.6 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game during Ateneo-Pilipinas’ campaign.
Ateneo-Pilipinas lost only thrice in the nine-team meet. Those three losses came at the hands of Canada’s 3D Global Sports, the South Korean National Team, and Iran’s B squad.
This year, Mighty Sports-Go for Gold Philippines picked him up to join them in their campaign in Taiwan from July 12 to 20.
Asked to compare Ateneo-Pilipinas to Mighty Sports-Philippines, the 22-year-old guard said that the individual experiences of each player will be a huge difference.
“This team’s much better since these are a bunch of players who have been playing all over the world,” opined Black, who is currently playing for MPBL team Quezon City Capitals.
“I think we will do better this year.”
Man for man, Black is right.
Surrounding Black are the likes of Roosevelt Adams, Jeremiah Gray, and Jason Brickman — all of whom played in the Dubai Basketball Championships earlier this year. Then there’s Mikey Williams, who played in the ABL just two years ago. Gab Banal is as battle-tested as they come, winning both the PBA D-League and MPBL MVP plums in a span of less than a year.
Then there are their five reinforcements, all of whom have ran the world circuit.
But for Black, what’s important for him is that he could represent his country once again.
“I’m just excited and honored to be here and playing in the Jones Cup for the second straight year.”
