Gilas ‘not ready yet’ for Fiba Asia

GILAS Pilipinas swept the MVP Cup as expected last night but national coach Tab Baldwin said the team “is still not ready” for the coming Fiba Asia Championship in Hunan, China.

Andray Blatche scored 18 points, Asi Taulava fired 13, Terrence Romeo added 12 and Calvin Abueva rifled in 11 as the Filipinos routed undermanned Chinese Taipei, 90-77, to rule the four-team tournament unbeaten at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“[The tournament] was successful, not because we won it, but because we had good challenges,” Baldwin said, who thanked the rest of the teams for tuning up with the Nationals.

The Filipinos had a fairly easier time compared to Saturday when the Wellington Saints of New Zealand pushed them to the limit before pulling off an 84-81 win.

Lu Cheng-ju hit 14 points in the fourth period and made the end exciting for the fans as the Taiwanese crept to within eight after being down by as many as 20 early in the fourth period.

“We didn’t play great,” Baldwin said. “We beat Taipei that didn’t play (Quincy) Davis and their best wing man (Lin Chih-chieh) in the fourth quarter.

“We’re not ready for [Fiba Asia] yet.”

Baldwin rested Jason Castro because of a sore big toe.

The overweight Blatche, whom Baldwin said has been on a soup-and-salad diet since his return to Manila on Monday, also had 12 rebounds.

The Saints finished second after ripping Talk ‘N Text, 101-78, in the first game for a 2-1 card. The Texters finished third at 1-2 while the Taiwanese, who came here without the veteran center Tseng Wen-ting, were winless.

NOTES: Gilas will fly to Cebu today for a five-day camp where the players will be in seclusion. “We don’t want to have eyes on us there,” said Baldwin. The camp, where practices will be twice a day, will run until Friday. The Nationals fly out Sept. 21 for Changsha City in Hunan where the Fiba Asia Olympic Qualifier will be held from Sept. 23.

The scores:

First Game

WELLINGTON SAINTS 101— Bloxham 20, Newton 19, Edwards 18, Adams 8, Ekenasio 7, Turner 7, Watkins 5, Ruscoe 3, Davis 0.

TALK ‘N TEXT 78—Tautuaa 26, Fonacier 13, Reyes J. 11, Seigle 7, Miranda 4, Rosario 4, Espiritu 4, Reyes R. 3, Carey 2, Rodriguez 2, Labagala 2, Sumalinog 0.

Quarters: 20-14, 48-43, 72-60, 101-78

Second Game

GILAS PILIPINAS 90—Blatche 18, Taulava 13, Romeo 12, Abueva 11, Pingris 8, Hontiveros 7, Gan-uelas 6, David 3, De Ocampo 3, Thoss 2, Norwood 1.

CHINESE TAIPEI 77—Lu 23, Chen SC 11, Liu 10, Tien 9, Chen SN 8, Tsai 8, Chen SH 6, Davis 2, Hung 0, Liu CC 0, Wu 0.

Quarters: 27-15, 46-34, 73-59, 90-77