Gilas looks to find rhythm before Asiad

MANILA, Philippines — Needing to find its stride before flying to Japan for the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, Gilas Pilipinas takes on South Korea once again in the Hana Invitational pocket tournament today at the Suwon KT Sonicboom Arena, looking to bounce back from a flat debut as a new unit.

The hastily assembled Nationals absorbed an 81-55 beating in their first meeting on Friday, as the hosts led from start to finish. The Koreans came in sharp after an 85-72 win over Saudi Arabia in the same city last week in Window 4 of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

Gilas fielded a different crew – an all-PBA selection without naturalized ace Justin Brownlee. Only RJ Abarrientos of Barangay Ginebra, Justin Arana, and Justine Baltazar of Converge carried over from the Gilas pool that beat Jordan, 82-81, and Iran, 68-56, at home.

Both the Philippines and South Korea hold identical 4-4 records in the Asian Qualifiers.

Head coach Tim Cone, who has handled the program since 2023, opted to form two separate teams for the FIBA windows and the Asian Games due to the unavailability of Filipino imports from the Japan B.League and the Korean Basketball League, with no FIBA break for the continental meet.

The Asiad squad had looked promising in camp, even beating the FIBA team in an intra-squad scrimmage last month, but struggled against the hot-shooting Koreans. After a close 18-24 first quarter, Gilas faltered and trailed 33-45 at the half. Korea never let up from there, pulling away for the 26-point win.led Gilas with 15 points, followed by Rain or Shine’s Adrian Nocum with 10. Robert Bolick of NLEX was held to just two points.