EASL: Meralco Bolts coach Luigi Trillo relishes the opportunity to represent the country

Anthony Valmoria
Oct 2 2024

PASAY CITY, PHILIPPINES – One of the best things a basketball player can achieve is being able to play for the national team. Whether it be in the Olympics, FIBA World Cup or even for international club tournaments, the pride of representing one’s country is a feeling that not everyone can be a part of. 

To be able to don a country’s colors with an entire nation behind you is something only reserved for the best, and Meralco Bolts’ head coach relishes that exact opportunity as his Meralco Bolts journey through in the East Asia Super League. 

“We carry the flag [Philippines] when we’re competing here [EASL], and for that we want to focus and give it our all,” Trillo said.

The Philippines-based team just recently bowed out of the Philippine Basketball Association playoffs and will now turn their heads to the international regional league and do their best to go deep. “We really feel that we can win, with all the players that we have right now in AD (Allen Durham), DJ (Kennedy), and Ange (Kouame),” Trillo added.

Meralco was in the EASL last year but only finished with a 1-4 record, but Trillo feels that setback last year is something they can capitalize on this year. 

“Our advantage is we were in this [EASL] tournament last year, so now we have a feel on how teams play. It’s up to us how we should execute and I feel confident with this year’s team.”

The Bolts are in here to win it – that’s the main goal according to Trillo – but initially they want to secure first the semifinals spot and then go from there.

“We want to get one in our next two games, or at least one of those,” Trillo mentioned in reference to the Bolts next two games. They will play against the Ryukyu Golden Kings in Okinawa, Japan then back home against the Busan KCC Egis of Korea.

“We’re aiming to have at least 4 wins in our group to be in the top 2 and make the semifinals, then we’ll see what goes from there. Anything can happen in a Final Four scenario and we definitely want to be in there.”