MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas came out with a lot of energy despite experiencing travel woes as it annihilated the Manawatù Jets, 92-61 on Sunday at the Fly Palmy Arena in Palmerston North in New Zealand.
Carl Tamayo paced the national side with 14 points, Kevin Quiambao had 13 while Troy Rosario 11.
The road-weary Filipinos managed to jumpe off to a 25-12 lead, putting up a relentless running attack, coupled by tenacious defense en route to the huge 31-point blowout of the New Zealand NBL ballclub.
Juam Gomez De Liaño chipped in nine, while new additions Mike Phillips and Justine Baltazar added eight and five apiece in a strong balanced attack.
The 6-8 Phillips was in fact, a bundle of energy for Gilas, as he finally, got to see action as a local player.
The UAAP Season 88 Finals MVP though had a scary moment in the final minute of the tuneup game when he landed awkwardly, and held on for a moment on his left ankle.
He was quickly subbed out as precaution during the dead ball.
Meanwhile, Justin Brownlee did not play as Gilas coach Tim Cone opted to rest the naturalized player.
The cold weather condition also came in the way, which contributed to the national squad’s original trip from Brisbane, Australia to Wellington, New Zealand getting rerouted to Auckland, as posted by Gilas assistant coach Sean Chambers in a Facebook post.
“Tough travel day yesterday,” Chambers wrote in his FB post.
Despite the travel woes, Gilas players took a business-like approach in the first of their two-game friendlies, as part of their preparations for the window 3 of the FIBA World Cup 2027 Asian Qualifiers.
Gilas Pilipinas is slated to go up versus the Franklin Bulls on Tuesday, before plunging to action against New Zealand on July 3 in Auckland.
