By REYNALD MAGALLON
The FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers are coming to a close and Gilas Pilipinas is eyeing a fitting end to a 15-month span full of drama, heartbreaks, hope, and redemption.
Before this entire basketball-crazy country looks forward to the hosting of what should be the greatest spectacle, the FIBA 2023 World Cup, in a few months time, the gallant Nationals hope to fire the first warning to the rest of the world when it clashes against a formidable Jordan squad in the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan on Monday, Feb. 27.
Tip-off is at 6 p.m. with the home team riding the momentum of its 107-96 triumph over Lebanon when it takes on a vengeful Jordanian team which is eyeing payback to its loss to Gilas from the last window.
Expected to lead Gilas anew is naturalized forward Justin Brownlee who was off to a splendid national team debut with 17 points, spearheading the national team’s best performance in the entire qualifiers.
Gilas tied the most three-point makes in the Asian qualifiers with 17 with teen Mason Amos accounting for a perfect 3-of-3 clip from distance for his own impressive Gilas debut with 13 points.
The nationals also displayed more cohesion as compared to the previous versions of the lineup, evident with their 31 assists – a huge improvement to their usual 16 dimes per outing in the previous games.
Despite the solid showing, Gilas skipper Kiefer Ravena refused to get too carried away with the win as the job was only half-done with Jordan also posing a huge threat especially after its 98-63 demolition of India.
“We have one more. Obviously Jordan is gonna come in, tinalo natin sila the last game sa home nila. With a lot of energy, they wanted to bounce back. I know they made it to the world cup already with what happened with the other teams but then again, just like them ayaw namin na matalo sa huling laro,” said Ravena.
“Ito na yung huling window tapos World Cup na ulit so wala ka na lang chance to actually feel this level of competition tapos nandito pa tayo sa Pilipinas so excited kami na makapaglaro ulit,” he added.
Jordan will be bannered by Freddy Ibrahim who unloaded 21 points, 13 assists and five rebounds and naturalized player Dar Tucker who finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Meantime, Gilas coach Chot Reyes is only making a slight tweak to his roster in the Nationals’ final game.
The young big man, who made his Gilas debut back in the second window of the qualifiers, took the spot of TNT forward Calvin Oftana who was then relegated to the reserve list.
