Defending the UAAP championship is all that matters to Ben Mbala at this point.
Although his home country Cameroon is scheduled to play several games in the FIBA World Cup 2019 African Qualifiers from November 24 to 26, the reigning MVP has announced that he will not be flying home.
Instead, his focus remains on De La Salle University and their bid for back-to-back championships in the UAAP 80 Men’s Basketball Tournament.
“Sadly, I won’t be suiting up for my country because my main priority is DLSU now,”
Big Ben was a revelation in the last FIBA Afrobasket, averaging 21.8 points and close to 10 rebounds as he led Cameroon to a 5th place finish.
Based on the groupings and schedule of the qualifiers, Cameroon should be able to beat South Africa and Guinea even without Ben. Both of these teams finished at the bottom in the recent Afrobasket. The only strong opponent in their group is current Afrobasket champion Tunesia.
The rest of the qualifying matches will be held in June and July next year. The top 3 teams per group will qualify to the next round.
With the UAAP Finals expected to start during that time, this is indeed good news assuming the Green Archers will advance.
Of course they will.