UAAP MVP Ben Mbala of La Salle has signified his interest in suiting up for his home country of Cameroon in the upcoming Fiba AfroBasket 2017 Qualifiers.
The Cameroon Basketball Federation announced the 30-man pool of head coach Lazare Adingono on Sunday.
And while current NBA players Joel Embiid of the Sixers, Luc Mbah a Moute of the Clippers and Pascal Siakam of the Raptors headline the list, the pool also includes Mbala, the 6-foot-8 forward who took the UAAP by storm last season when he averaged 20.6 points, 16.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 2.4 blocks on his way to leading the Green Archers to the championship.
Mbala said that the Cameroon team coach has already contacted him to invite him to the camp, and he told the coach that he will see if he will be granted permission by both La Salle and the UAAP.
Mbala said that he would love to try his luck in making his national team.
“Yeah, why not? That will be a great learning experience for me,” said Mbala, who started to make his mark when he captured camp MVP honors during the 2011 Basketball Without Borders Africa, before making his way to Cebu to join the Southwestern University Cobras.
Mbala added that he felt proud to be named to the pool, which also has San Beda’s Arnaud Noah and former National University big man Alfred Aroga.
“It feels great because it shows that all my hard work is being recognized,” Mbala said.
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