GILAS Pilipinas left yesterday for the FIBA Men’s Olympic basketball tournament opening in Riga, Latvia next week on an optimistic note after beating the Taiwan Mustangs 74-64 in its last local tune-up game last Monday night at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
After a tight first half, Dwight Ramos and Justine Brownlee combined as the nationals went on a 21-12 third quarter surge in front an animated hometown crowd to wrap up their Manila training camp in fine style.
Ramos led the way with 19 points, sinking four of five triples, on top of three rebounds and four steals while Brownlee had a double-double of 12 points and 15 assists in the exhibition match.
Kai Sotto added nine points and nine rebounds while June Mar Fajardo had eight points and, surprisingly, four steals as the two big men took turns in dealing with Taiwan’s 7-foot-6 slotman Samuel Deguara.
Oscar Lopez led the Mustangs with 15 points while former pro league players Alex Cabagnot and Rashawn McCarthy had 13 and 12 points apiece, respectively, for the visitors.
While happy with the victory, Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone was far from happy with the way his charges performed against a squad coached by former Rain or Shine deputy coach Chris Gavina.
“For this day, it wasn’t pretty. We gotta be better. That’s why we have these games,” Cone explained. “We’re not where we want to be yet; we have to be better.”
The match was the last local game for Gilas, which will face an uphill battle for the lone Olympic slot available in the six-team tournament starting July 2 in the Latvian capital.
Before that, they Pinoy basketeers will have friendly games against Poland and Turkey as part of their preparations in the competition where they are bracketed in Group A with Latvia and Georgia.
Group B is composed of Cameroon, Brazil and Montenegro.
Cone’s charges kick off their campaign against the hosts on July 3 then tackle the Georgians the next day, both matches to be held at the Riga Arena, with the top two squads advancing to the crossover semifinals on July 6.
The winning semifinalists will dispute the coveted ticket to the Paris Olympics the succeeding day.
The Philippines last saw action in the quadrennial meet in the 1972 Munich Games with a squad bannered by Freddie Webb, the late Rosalio “Yoyong” Martires, Ed Ocampo, Jimmy Mariano, Adriano Papa Jr., Danny Florencio and Rogelio “Tembong” Melencio, among others.
With the late Ning Ramos calling the shots, the Filipinos wound up 13th overall among 16 teams with a 3-6 record.
