Ben Mbala will be back to lead De La Salle University in its bid for back-to-back championships in the UAAP men’s basketball tournament.

But before that, he will first need to help Cameroon in its campaign in the 2017 FIBA Afrobasket.

The reigning UAAP MVP will suit up for his home country, when it sees action in the regional tournament that runs from September 8 to 16. Senegal and Tunisia will co-host the competition.

A post shared by Ben Mbala (@benmbala) on Aug 20, 2017 at 11:08am PDT

This means that Mbala will most likely miss the Green Archers’ first two games in the UAAP, which are against Far Eastern University on September 10 and National University on September 16.

At present, Mbala is in Brazil for Cameroon’s training camp.

Cameroon, which placed ninth in the 2015 FIBA Afrobastket, is grouped with Tunisia, Guinea and Rwanda.

On the other hand, La Salle is currently in Davao for the Green Archers' own training camp.

In his MVP campaign a season ago, the 6-foot-8 center averaged 20.6 points, 16 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks.

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