Gilas dominates India after ‘reality check’ loss to New Zealand

The undermanned yet courageous Filipinos acknowledge the cheers of an appreciative hometown crowd at center court after dismantling the Indians. —FIBA.COM PHOTOS

Sharp from the get-go and playing without letup on Sunday night, Gilas Pilipinas destroyed a lanky India side, 79-63, in Group A Qualifying action as the young Filipinos—with some of them to play in the 2023 Fiba (International Basketball Federation) World Cup—rebounded from a horrid loss and gained a lot of international play experience to the delight of a boisterous hometown crowd at Mall of Asia Arena.

Dwight Ramos was the tip of the Gilas sword, shooting 13 points in the first half and then having 19 after three quarters as the undermanned Filipinos put this one away early and soothed the pain, somewhat, of a 106-60 shellacking taken at the hands of New Zealand last week.

“It was an important game for us. We needed the win. We had a tough trip to New Zealand. Literally,” said Gilas coach Nenad Vucinic. “The way we got there, it was very difficult to play that game because of the level of opposition.”

“We were all disappointed with our performance [against New Zealand], so we needed to bounce back,” Vucinic added. “I want to congratulate the players on getting a good win.”

Team Philippines erected a 21-10 first quarter lead, jacked this up to 45-24 after 20 minutes before taking a 21-point lead into the fourth that the Indians never came close to overhauling despite catching some fire late.

The win, which gave the Nationals a 2-2 record in this round, sent the Philippines to a collision path with the likes of Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.But before that, Gilas sees action in the Fiba Asia Cup, which will be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, starting July 12.

“We probably shouldn’t have let our foot off the gas, but we are a young team, so the oscillations and the ups and downs, you know, are kind of expected,” Vucinic said. “We are happy with the result but we know that we can and we have to play a lot better in the Asia Cup.”

Gilas pulled out the rout despite missing naturalized center Ange Kouame and point guard Dave Ildefonso. The Filipinos routed this same side by 24 points last February but still looked as impressive on Sunday night.

“It feels good getting back on track,” point guard Kiefer Ravena, who finished with 16 points, told reporters on the way back to the locker room. “We got a big, big reality check against New Zealand. That got our feet on the ground and got us humbled [and] at the same time we learned our mistakes.

“We kind of showed it here against India, and hopefully, this allows us for a lot of improvement for the team, for the program.”

There were a total of seven Filipinos who finished in twin digits for Vucinic, with Karl Kevin Quiambao accounting for 13.

Muin Bek Hafeez had 13 points, while Pratap Singh Sekhon and Kumar Muthu Krishnan added 12 each for India, which despite not having won a single match, also makes it to the next round thanks to South Korea’s no-show that led to its disqualification last March. INQ