Gilas bounces back, rips India

THERE were smiles, high-fives, and cheers among the youth-laden Gilas Pilipinas squad anew — things nowhere to be found just three days ago.

Beaten black and blue by powerhouse New Zealand last Thursday, the Filipino cagers got back their mojo, blasting India 79-63 last night in the third window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.

Dwight Ramos powered Gilas with a game-high 21 points, to go with five rebounds and two assists, while veteran skipper Kiefer Ravena added 12 markers, two boards, and four dimes.

In front of their home crowd, Will Navarro and Carl Tamayo did their part for Gilas, as the team played with only 10 players after Dave Ildefonso suffered a knee injury in their 60-106 beatdown at the hands of the Kiwis.

The Indians came off a 60-95 loss to New Zealand five months ago.

Gilas wound up with an even 2-2 card in Group A and along with New Zealand (4-0) and India (0-4) advanced to the second round where they will join the top three teams from Group C in Lebanon (4-1), Saudi Arabia (3-2), and Jordan (3-2) to form Group E.

The next qualifiers’ matches will be played in November.

Coach Nenad Vučinić lauded his charges’ resolve for bouncing back after they were handed a numbing reality check.

“It was an important game for us. We need the win. We had a tough trip to New Zealand, the way we got there, and it was very difficult to play that game because of the level of the opposition,” Vučinić said.

“We were all very disappointed with that performance and we needed to bounce back,” he added.

Gilas raced to a fast start and took a 45-24 spread at the half.

A Ramos split from the charity stripe stretched the difference to as much as 48-24 at the 9:09 mark of the third canto.

The nationals still enjoyed a commanding 65-44 advantage heading into the payoff period and hardly met resistance from India from there.

Muin Bek Hafeez paced the Indians with 13 points, two rebounds, and three assists, while Sahaij Pratap Singh Sekhon and Arvind Kumar Muthu Krishnan contributed 12 markers each.