The Macau squad that Gilas beat at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last Monday was a far cry from the Black Bears whom Meralco repulsed in EASL at the MOA Arena last October. Jenning Leung, a Filipino born in Laguna, was the only holdover. Against Meralco, Leung scored 10 points but against Gilas, he erupted for 17, punctuated by five triples. Leung, 30, attended Brent then played at McGill University, the same Canada school where PBA vet Sean Anthony saw action.
Because the Gilas send-off wasn’t FIBA-sanctioned, Macau came with a souped-up roster featuring five Americans, a Nigerian, a Senegalese, a Macau-American, a Fil-Am and Leung. The Black Bears lineup listed four Macau natives, 7-6 Sam Deguara of Malta and Texan Leon Gilmore (played one game for TNT in the 2022 PBA Governors’ Cup) but they were DNPs against Gilas.
The five Americans were 6-5 William Douglas of Southern Methodist University and Prairie View A&M, 6-1 Bryson Dennis of NCAA D2 Claflin University, 6-4 Amorie Archibald of Louisiana Tech, 6-6 Omari Peek-Green of Delaware State and Alabama A&M and 6-0 Cole Micek of NAIA University of St. Francis, Illinois. The Nigerian was 6-9 Joseph Obasa, a former Ateneo foreign student athlete now playing for the Malaysian national team. The Senegalese was 6-10 Seny N’Diaye of West Virginia University. The Macau-American was 6-2 Phoenix Shackelford of NCAA D2 California State Poly at Pomona. The Fil-Am was 6-10 Quentin Millora-Brown of Rice University, Vanderbilt University, The Citadel and University of the Philippines. QMB is recognized as naturalized by FIBA despite submitting a Philippine passport purportedly issued before he turned 16, a qualification to be classified as a local.
Gilas coach Tim Cone had no idea of how the Black Bears play when the send-off started. At the three-day Clark training camp last weekend, Cone focused on preparing for Gilas’ FIBA Asia Cup Group D opponents Chinese-Taipei, New Zealand and Iraq. Macau wasn’t on the agenda.
So when the send-off began, the Black Bears surprised Gilas with an amazing display of perimeter firepower. In the first half, Macau fired 12 of 17 from three and hit 56 percent from the field, outscoring Gilas from the perimeter, 44 to 24. In the second half, Cone made his adjustments with defense as the main emphasis. Macau wound up knocking down only one of 10 from deep in the last 20 minutes as Gilas tightened the screws on the Black Bears’ gunners. Macau had only two turnovers at the half but finished with 12.
Gilas started the second half with a 15-2 blast and opened the fourth quarter behind a 14-4 salvo, nine points from three Justin Brownlee triples. From 21 down in the second quarter, Gilas finally wrested the lead, 84-83, in the fourth and held on to win, 103-98. June Mar Fajardo, Troy Rosario and Calvin Oftana didn’t play but Cone’s troops had more than enough weapons to fend off Macau with JB, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Kevin Quiambao and Scottie Thompson delivering double figure points.