GILAS Pilipinas is seemingly hard to stop when its outside shots are falling.
The all-amateur Philippine five whipped Jordan-B 90-63 last Wednesday night in an exhibition match in the King Abdullah Cup at the Prince Hamzah Hall in Amman.
Do-it-all guard Dwight Ramos typified the nationals’ fiery shooting, winding up with 21 points on seven three-pointers, on top of three rebounds and six assists, while big man Justine Baltazar chipped in 13 markers on 3-of-4 clip from deep.
Jordan Heading sank three triples for 11 points, while Carl Tamayo and Rey Suerte had eight each as Gilas scored a fitting follow-up to its 77-62 drubbing of Saudi Arabia last Tuesday night.
Gilas was on target anew, going 16-of-36 from beyond the arc for a 44-percent clip.
The victory, however, won’t reflect in the standings as the games against Jordan’s Team B is not counted in the five-nation, six-squad tilt.
Gilas squares off with unbeaten Tunisia today at the same venue.The match is set at 12 midnight.
Aside from Ramos, Baltazar, Heading, Suerte, and Tamayo, also part of the team are naturalized player Ange Kouame, skipper Isaac Go, Japan B.League Asian import Thirdy Ravena, Geo Chiu, Mike Nieto, RJ Abarrientos, SJ Belangel, and William Navarro.
Making their return to the squad are erstwhile injured players Matt Nieto and Dave Ildefonso.
Left at home were Allyn Bulanadi, Tzaddy Rangel, and injured players Jaydee Tungcab and Kemark Cariño.
The top four teams will advance to the knockout semifinals set to starton July 31, while the title match and the bronze medal match are set on Aug. 1.
Gilas joined the King’s Cup to toughen up for the Asia Cup but the August 16 to 28 tilt was officially rescheduled to next year.
