Christian Standhardinger. Photo by Randolph B. Leongson/ INQUIRER.net
The newly formed Gilas Pilipinas squad that will play in the Jones Cup Invitational in Chinese Taipei struggled big time in its first game playing together, with Filipino-German rookie Christian Standhardinger bailing the team out.
Standhardinger scored five points in the last 23 seconds that keyed a 113-112 win over NLEX on Wednesday night.
Understandably so, coach Chot Reyes was displeased.
“I thought NLEX outworked us in the first half,” Reyes said after the game at Meralco Gym. “But we spoke to the players (at halftime) and there was a big turnaround.”
Gilas, which is bidding to win the Jones Cup with just one import for the first time since 2012, leaves for Taiwan on July 13 and will play nine games in as many days.
Its final outing will be against Iran for what could be the championship match.
The Philippines, represented by Mighty Sports last year, swept the Jones Cup with a roster that featured a load of former PBA imports led by Al Thornton.
The Nationals trailed the Road Warriors by as many as 25 points in the first half, with Aaron Fuller shooting 26 points to lead the team. The Road Warriors underwent a massive buildup in the middle of the Commissioner’s Cup to boost their bid this season.
Kiefer Ravena and import Mike Myers had 13 points each to pace Gilas.
Aside from the Jones Cup, Gilas will also be defending the gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games scheduled in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in August, before the team is beefed up, hopefully, by PBA veterans for the Fiba Asia Championship in Beirut, Lebanon.
Jio Jalalon and Matthew Wright, Cadets who played with PBA veterans in the Gilas team that bamboozled the Southeast Asia Basketball Association field in Manila two months ago, will be leading this batch of Nationals in Taipei.
Mac Belo, the former Far Eastern U standout picked first overall by Blackwater in the last PBA Draft, will be coming off a long injury layoff.