Young Gilas players have shot at final roster for next Fiba window

Young Gilas team which competed in the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup qualifiers in Bahrain. FIBA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The young players of Gilas Pilipinas all had their moments during a dominant sweep of Thailand in the second window of the Fiba Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers in Manama, Bahrain.

Gilas beat Thailand by an average score of 28 in their two meetings in the Bahrain bubble and the team’s impressive showing earned the players’ a shot at making the team for the next window in February.

“All of them. All of them are in contention to have a spot in the third window, I think in February. All of them have their equal chances,” said Gilas head coach Jong Uichico during the post-game press conference.

“We will make that assessment come next year when we start again our training camp and we will make our decisions from there.”

Uichico will have a lot of thinking to do when that time comes after drawing contributions from across the board.

Dwight Ramos stood out in the first game against the Thais on Friday when he put up 20 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field while Javi Gomez De Liaño proved his worth in the second meeting on Monday with 19 points, hitting all of his four shots from long range.

The likes of Juan Gomez De Liaño, Matt Nieto, Justine Baltazar and others all had significant contributions as well.

The Philippines will head into the third window on top of Group A with a 3-0 record.