Gilas eyes revenge vs Taiwan
After a long wait, Gilas Pilipinas finally has a chance to avenge a humbling loss to Taiwan before the home crowd in the FIBA Asia Championship four years ago.
June Mar Fajardo, Jayson Castro, Japeth Aguilar and the rest of the Gilas team are highly motivated as they clash with Quincy Davis and his Taiwanese teammates in a grudge match at the Smart Araneta Coliseum tonight.
Tip-off is at 7:30 p.m. with the Nationals determined to score payback against the Taiwanese and complete a twinkill in Round One of the FIBA World Cup home-and-away qualifying series.
The Nationals ride the momentum of a 77-71 win over Team Japan in Tokyo Friday as they seek revenge on their 79-84 heartbreaker against the Taiwanese during group play of the 2013 Asian meet.
Chinese Taipei pulled a major breakthrough in that 2013 Asian joust in Manila, including a first-ever victory over China (96-78) during the quarterfinals and an eventual fourthplace finish behind Iran, Philippines and South Korea.
But the Taiwanese have since gone on a slide, failing to make the knockout round in the next Asian conclave in Changsha in 2015. A few months back, Taipei’s Teams A and B suffered shattering losses to the Gilas cadets in the 2017 Jones Cup.
Gilas has been far more consistent. Considering all these things, Gilas sets out the heavy favorites in its first “home” game in the “WC” qualifiers against the Taiwanese.
Fajardo, Castro, Aguilar, Gabe Norwood, Andray Blatche, Troy Rosario, Calvin Abueva, Matthew Wright, RR Pogoy, Allein Maliksi, Kiefer Ravena and Kevin Alas made up the Gilas roster against Japan. Raymond Almazan, Mac Belo and Carl Bryan Cruz sat out the game.
At press time, coach Chot Reyes had yet to announce his lineup against Taipei.
While the Filipinos triumphed away from home, the Taiwanese suffered a severe punishment at the hands of Australia right before their fans at the Heping Sports Gymnasium in Taipei Friday.
The Taiwanese struggled at the paint and failed to execute their transition offense and perimeter shooting against the tall Australia side.
Davis, a longtime fixture in the Taipei lineup, led the team with 17 points and five rebounds. He’s likely to face an uphill battle against Gilas frontliners Blatche, Fajardo and Aguilar.
Other Taipei players fielded against Australia were YunAn Chang, Cheng Liu, Yi-Hsiang Chou, Po-Chen Chou, Long-Mao Hu, Cheng-Ju Lu, Wen-Tseng Tsai, Kuan-Chuan Chen, Jhen Huang, Po-Hsun Cho and Kai-Yan Lee.
With the Gilas cadets including Christian Standhardinger, Team Phl clobbered Taipei A, 88-72, then whipped Taipei B, 93-82, in the last Jones Cup.
STAR News Service