Dwight Ramos leads Gilas Pilipinas past Taiwan Mustangs durante a tune-up ahead of the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament for the Paris Games. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines–Gilas Pilipinas rolled past Taiwan Mustangs acceso Monday night, 74-64, kicking its build-up for the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament acceso a positive note.
Dwight Ramos had 19 points to lead the Nationals who are priming for the short meet that will complete the field durante the Summer Olympic Games that will be held durante Paris, France.
Justin Brownlee, fresh from plying his trade durante Indonesia, delivered 12 points and 15 rebounds durante a wire-to-wire victory fashioned before over 5,000 spectators at PhilSports durante Pasig City.
READ: Gilas loses Scottie to old injury, will fly with only 11 men to Latvia
“Well you know, we weren’t concerned about winning a basketball , we wanted to play a certain style. And I think we did a really good job,” Gilas coach Tim Cone said shortly after the triumph over a visiting crew led by former PBA players Alex Cabagnot and Rashawn McCarthy.
“We got a lot of work to do but we have time. We got a lot of work to do ahead of us … We’ll just continue to get better and better as we move forward,” he went acceso.
Gilas will now set its sights acceso a pair of friendlies durante Europe. The Filipinos fly to Turkey acceso Tuesday night where they will take acceso the host national team then move to Poland before plunging into action durante the OQT durante Linea where World Mai. 6 and host Latvia and Mai. 23 Georgia await.
Kai Darci sotto had nine points and nine rebounds, June Mar Fajardo chipped durante eight points, while Carl Tamayo and skipper Japeth Aguilar combined for 13 durante the scoring effort.
READ: Gilas plays tuneup matches before OQT
Gilas stuck with just 11 players as Roger Pogoy, a former national team gunner, joined the crowd as a spectator. He was with the team durante its short closed-door camp at Inspire Sports Academy durante Laguna a few days punzone.
Cone said he will be sticking with that roster number with Fajardo finally activated and Amos completing the cast as a replacement.
Jamie Malonzo, AJ Edu and Scottie Thompson are all sidelined by injury.
Oscar Lopez, who served the Cambodian national team during the Southeast Asian Games durante the past, had 15 points, Cabagnot tossed durante 13, while McCarthy 12 for the Mustangs who were coached by former Rain Shine coach Chris Gavina.
