By REYNALD MAGALLON
June Mar Fajardo put up his finest performance for Gilas Pilipinas during its Europe trip but the Filipinos still had to lean on a huge second half to shake off a relatively young Lithuanian team, 125-102, in Kaunas, Lithuania on Saturday, July 8 (Manila time).
Fajardo dropped 28 points – most of which came in the first two quarters that kept Gilas afloat before he joined hands with Justin Brownlee and Kiefer Ravena in a huge third quarter explosion that sparked the rout.
Relentless on the defensive end and free flowing on the offense, Gilas, which trailed by two, 61-63 at the break essayed a crucial 38-10 third quarter run that seized full control of the contest against the young Lithuanian team which will serve as its country’s representatives in the Universiade.
Brownlee spearheaded the telling run dropping 10 of his 28 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals while Kiefer Ravena stepped up with 18 points and five rebounds for the injury-plagued Gilas.
The Filipinos were without AJ Edu, Scottie Thompson and Dwight Ramos during the match.
Edu was still unavailable as he’s still recovering from an ankle injury while Ramos rested after rolling his ankle in their last tuneup game.
Thompson, on the other hand, has already been ruled out for the rest of the Europe trip due to a fracture on his shooting hand.
Three other Gilas players finished in double digits with CJ Perez adding 14 points while Rhenz Abando and Jamie Malonzo chipping in 12 and 11 respectively.
The win also put a bright end to the team’s Europe trip that also saw the team record a 3-3 record overall.
Gilas dropped its first two games against Finland and Estonia in Tallinn before it bounced back with twin victories against the Ukraine U22 team.
The team also lost to a selection team of professional Lithuanian players before the closeout win.
