Gilas Pilipinas heads to final Fiba window on high note after routing Meralco

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine national basketball team made sure to wrap up its camp in the Philippines on a positive note, handing Meralco a 100-82 rout in its final tune-up game here Friday at Meralco Gym.

Gilas Pilipinas is leaving for Doha on Saturday for the fourth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers. It will face Qatar at Al-Gharafa Sports Club Multi-Purpose Hall on February 21 then Kazakhstan three days after at Saryarka Velodrome.

The national team was already in control against the Bolts after the first half with a 55-45 lead but took it up a notch in the third after Gabe Norwood put Gilas up 74-50 with a breakaway jam to complete a 23-5 run.

Gilas also played without naturalized center Andray Blatche, who is still playing in the Chinese Basketball Association and will rejoin the team in Doha.

“At least even without Andray, we’ve seen that the guys are blending well,” said Gilas head coach Yeng Guiao.

“We played good defense today and we’re hoping we can still improve our defense and be able to translate or apply the things that we’ve practiced in the Fiba window.”

Marcio Lassiter was mainly responsible in Gilas’ third quarter surge after he scored 10 of his total 14 points in the period.

Roger Pogoy top billed Gilas with 21 points while June Mar Fajardo and Troy Rosario had 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Reynel Hugnatan led the Bolts with 13 points while Baser Amer, who was once part of the Gials program, and Nico Salva had 12 points apiece.