Familiarity will surely be key as the core of De La Salle and College St. Benilde men’s basketball team joins Strong Group ahead of the 33rd Dubai International Basketball Championship.

Strong Group announced it has added the firepower of the UAAP Season 86 Most Valuable Player and La Salle forward Kevin Quiambao along with his teammate Francis Escandor and their coach Topex Robinson. 

Head coach Charles Tiu has also included some Blazers in the rotation with the trio of Allen Liwag, Tony Ynot and Justine Sanchez seeing action with their Green Archers counterparts. 

The team previously revealed it has tapped former NBA players Dwight Howard and Andray Blatche along with Andre Roberson and McKenzie Moore as its imports for the upcoming tournament. 

The competition is slated on Jan. 19 to 28 at the Al Nasr Club in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

While it is Quiambao’s second time to play for Strong Group after his maiden stint last year, Robinson and Escandor will be first-timers in the team as well as the Benilde trio. 

Robinson is set to join Tiu’s coaching staff which also has Brian Goorjian. 

Strong Group managed to book a knockout quarterfinals berth last year where it eventually fell to Al Riyadi.