Another second generation star will be plying his craft in the B.League.
Matthew Aquino has signed a three-year deal with Division I team Shinshu.
The 24-year-old son of Marlou is already in Japan. He has also already practiced with the team.
For Aquino, he feels happy for this opportunity which only comes to a select few.
“Siyempre, unang-una napakasaya. Very blessed because only a few people are given this opportunity,” he said.
“Yung fact na I’m doing what I’m enjoying, talagang blessing to be here.”
Helping seal the deal were Tim Edwards (Siegle Sports and Entertainment) and Rados Drljevic (CEO of 3&D Basketball Agency). Aquino met them through Patrick Tancioco of Better Basketball.
But unlike the eight other Filipino players in the league — namely Thirdy Ravena (San-En), Kiefer Ravena (Shiga), Javi Gomez de Liano (Ibaraki), Bobby Ray Parks Jr. (Nagoya), Kobe Paras (Niigata), Dwight Ramos (Toyama), Juan Gomez de Liano (Tokyo Z) and Kemark Carino (Aomori), Aquino will not be classified as an Asian Quota Player. With his mom being Japanese, the 6-foot-8 stretch big man will be a local.
“Grandmother ko is Japanese then napasa sa mom ko and then sa akin,” he explained.
This would mean that besides Aquino, the Brave Warriors will also have 6-foot-10 American Josh Hawkinson, 6-foot-11 American Wayne Marshall, and 6-foot-7 American Anthony McHenry, along with 6-foot-6 Korean guard Jaemin Yang.
Aquino has already trained with the team and has met head coach and general manager Michael Katsuhisa and team president and CEO Masahiko Katagai.
(C) B.League
“I met my teammates because nakapag-workout na ko,” he shared. “‘Yung vets namin are super cool, they are legends here in the B.League. And ‘yung head coach namin super approachable and when I met him, super gaan talaga.
“I felt at home when I met them.”
In his college career, Aquino played 29 games in National University, norming 3.41 points, 2.96 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per contest.
After that, he played for Bacoor during the 2019-21 Chooks-to-Go MPBL Lakan Cup. He averaged 3.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks in 13.1 minutes.
Shinshu, which was promoted to B1 two years ago, is willing to invest in Aquino’s development.
And the only way Aquino will repay the trust given to him is by improving every day.
“Dun kami nagulat dun sa three-year offer,” he said. “Right now, the goal is to improve every day and take it step-by-step. I just want to improve myself and madami pa ako kailangang patunayan, hindi lang sa iba, kung hindi sa sarili ko.
“I represent my dad here and siyempre my country as well kaya I have to take it day-by-day.
Shinshu is currently 2-2 in the standings, winning their opening weekend games against Toyama (72-71 and 55-41) before bowing to Yokohama last weekend (75-84 and 66-70).
Aquino will make his debut next weekend when they face Osaka at Ookini Arena Maishima.
