Road to Rio: Gilas PH takes on Iran anew Wednesday

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

GILAS PILIPINAS plays Asian rival Iran Wednesday at the Araneta Coliseum, one of two matches scheduled against the Middle eastern power in preparation for the country’s Olympic bid.

Game time is at 7 p.m.

The two teams played a closed-door match Tuesday using a unique format. The two squads played four quarters, with the scores resetting to zero at the end of each period.

“That was the agreement,” Gilas coach Tab Baldwin said of the friendly format. “We weren’t interested in making this into a game. This was always gonna be just a scrimmage, giving the coaches opportunities to work on situations.

“That’s why this was never designed to be for the public, for the media, this was for the coaches really.”

Gilas won the first (21-13) and third (17-16) quarters while Iran took the second (16-15) and fourth (19-18). Unofficially, the total was 71-64 for the Filipinos.

“We were average which is probably about what I expected,” said Gilas coach Tab Baldwin. “Defensively, Iran was a little bit too quick for us in the execution of their offene and that’s something that we would expect from a team that’s a little bit ahead of us.”

Meanwhile, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas executive director Sonny Barrios said the new Fiba timeline would conflict with the PBA schedule, prompting them to revive the cadet program.

“It’s all about maintaining a competitive national team,” said Barrios during the PSA Forum Tuesday at Shakey’s Malate. The cadets will be made up of top amateur stars like Kiefer Ravena, Mac Belo and Kevin Ferrer. With a report from June Navarro