Reporting note: this article draws on tiebreakertimes.com.ph; LodiScore provides the summary and editorial framing.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas has seven new names on its whiteboard. The first eFIBA x UAAP esports eGilas talent discovery tournament wrapped on October 20 at MVP Studios in Mandaluyong City, and the three-day event left eGilas prospects to track rather than a finished roster.
Program director Ryan Gregorio and the national team coaching staff monitored the competition closely, evaluating players for the pool that will carry Philippine esports basketball into a busy 2027 international calendar.
eGilas Prospects Emerge From a Three-Day Audition
The tournament ran from October 18 to 20 and was the first of its kind for the UAAP, staged with SBP as presenter. Most of the coaches involved also handle UAAP teams in the same competition, which made the scouting job a little more complicated than a standard tryout.
Seven student-athletes stood out: National University's John Reyes, Andrei Enriquez and Dunn Visitacion; University of Santo Tomas's Daemiel Argame and Eryx Delos Reyes; Adamson University's Enzell Banaag; and De La Salle University's Doniel Parducho.
Gregorio framed the exercise as a search for character as much as skill, saying the federation wants players who show discipline and competitiveness alongside the technical side of the game.
John Reyes Headlines the Shortlist
Reyes took tournament MVP honors after averaging 23.5 points, 12.9 assists and 2.2 steals per game. Those are the kind of numbers that look absurd in a traditional box score and entirely normal in esports basketball, where one player can run an offense and a defense at the same time.
He and his NU teammates steered the Bulldogs to the first-ever UAAP "golden road," a sweep that doubles as the strongest collective argument for the school's three representatives on the list.
Enriquez added 14.8 points per contest, while Visitacion contributed 9.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.6 steals. Three Bulldogs on one shortlist is either a scouting triumph or a quiet warning about how concentrated the tournament's talent was in a single camp.
UST, Adamson and La Salle Representation
Delos Reyes carried the runner-up Teletigers with 20.0 points per game, while Argame filled in around him at 5.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.3 blocks per contest.
Banaag ran the Soaring Falcons' offense at 17.1 points and 11.2 assists per game, a workload that made Adamson's floor general one of the more obvious names on the staff's list.
Parducho was La Salle's standout with 10.1 points, 16.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists. A rebounding average that high suggests somebody told him to crash the glass and he took it personally.
Ryan Gregorio Sets the Timeline for the Pool
Gregorio said the level of competition gave the federation "a promising glimpse of the future of Philippine esports basketball," and repeated that selection will weigh discipline and willingness to represent the country, not just raw output.
"We want to give these young players an opportunity to grow and prove themselves within the national team program. The goal is to build a competitive pool early, develop their chemistry, and prepare them for the demands of international competition," he said.
He also called the tournament "an important first step in finding the players who can help carry eGilas forward." With a packed international calendar awaiting in 2027, Gregorio hopes to assemble the pool early next year and begin preparations from there.
Nothing is final yet. The seven names are prospects, not selections, and the gap between a strong weekend in Mandaluyong and a national team call-up is exactly the kind of gap Philippine basketball has spent years learning to respect.
The original report on this story was published by tiebreakertimes.com.ph.
