MANILA, Philippines – The Energen Philippine youth team hopes to buck the absence of its veteran players as it embarks on a mission to match, if not surpass, its fourth place finish the last time out in the 2nd FIBA-Asia Under-16 Men's Championships slated from Oct. 18-28 in Nha Trang City, Vietnam.

"Of course, our goal is to win the tournament or perhaps improve on our fourth place finish in Johore Baru, Malaysia," said Energen Pilipinas team manager Jose Lopa at today's PSA Forum at Shakey's UN Ave.

"The boys have worked so hard and sacrificed so much to ensure our country will be well represented in the FIBA tournament and continue our campaign to regain supremacy in Asian basketball," he added.

The Nationals suffered a major setback after two of their mainstays, Arvin Tolentino of San Beda and Gelo Vito of La Salle-Greenhills, vital cogs in their title sweep of the Southeast Asian Basketball Association U16 Championship in Banting, Malaysia last August, won’t be able to go due this time to chool commitments.

Both Tolentino and Vito's teams are currently playing in the Final Four of the ongoing 87th NCAA season.

"We have been preparing for this FIBA tournament even when we were playing SEABA," said Energen Pilipinas coach Olsen Racela, who skipped the weekly forum to attend Petron Blaze practice.

In the absence of Tolentino and Vito, the team, Sponsored by Energen, which is distributed by TriDharma Marketing Corp., will have other SEABA veterans in Henry Asilum of Sacred Heart-Cebum, NU's Hubert Cani, San Beda's Rev Diputado, Xavier's Kyles Lao, Reedley's Jay Javelosa, Ateneo's Earl Murphy and Arellano U's Daryl Pascual.

"Half of them are SEABA veterans while the other half will see action in their first international game. But all of them share the ultimate dream of playing for flag and country," said Racela.