Ateneo’s Kai Ballungay. – MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—Ateneo is in need of a new vocal leader on the floor after the departure of star trio BJ Andrade, Dave Ildefonso and Ange Kouame and coach Tab Baldwin found the right guy during the Filoil EcoOil Preseason Cup.
After the Blue Eagles’ rout of the University of the East, 73-56, at San Juan Arena on Wednesday, Baldwin lauded second-year forward Kai Ballungay for serving as their floor leader.
“He’s moving after a couple seasons into a more senior role and that’s expected for a senior. Kai’s a relatively quiet guy, he lets his playing do the talking but he needs to be a bit more vocal and he understands that,” told the veteran tactician.
“He’s got a good basketball brand, he’s got a good background of the game, he plays the game well so naturally we would like to have him step up and do more of a leadership role and continue to play as if he’s one of our seniors .”
Ballungay was highly efficient on offense, missing only two of his eight shots for a game-high 15 points. He was also active in the paint with five rebounds.
Ateneo coach Tab Baldwin and Kai Ballungay during the Filoil pre-season tournament. – MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
In just 21 minutes of play, Ballungay served as Baldwin’s voice inside the court, setting up plays and motivating his fellow wards in a physical game.
For Baldwin, Ballungay’s maturity will be highly needed, especially with him sharing the power forward spot with rookie Mason Amos.
“Playing in that spot would be him and Mason and Mason’s a rookie. Mason will have his ups and downs, that’s what happens to rookies so Kai’s going to have to be a consistent performer.”
Ballungay, meanwhile, accepts the challenge wholeheartedly, as he sees the sense of urgency for Ateneo, which moved to a 2-6 record.
“I accept the challenge going into this season. We have no Ange, Dave and BJ and those were our vocal leaders,”
“I just wanna take that challenge and really go out to challenge these guys and push my teammates to the best of my abilities.”
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