21-man Gilas pool named

MANILA, Philippines — The hunt for the Gilas Pilipinas Magic 12 continues.

After a long deliberation, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas and the national quintet’s coaching staff cut the number of candidates for Gilas’ representatives to the FIBA World Cup to 21.

From this pool will come the 12 brave souls that will carry the fight for the Philippines in the Aug. 25 to Sept. 10 global hoops showpiece, where tough matches against Italy, the Dominican Republic and Angola await in group play.

Fil-Am NBA star Jordan Clarkson leads the pool with American-born Justin Brownlee and Ivorian-born Ange Kouame providing backup or even competition for the “naturalized player” slot.

Joining them are PBA stalwarts Scottie Thompson, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Jamie Malonzo, Chris Newsome, CJ Perez, RR Pogoy, JP Erram and Calvin Oftana, young twin towers Kai Sotto and AJ Edu, and overseas-based Dwight Ramos, Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena, Rhenz Abando, Jordan Heading, Carl Tamayo and Ray Parks Jr.

The pool members named by coach Chot Reyes will now have to make a case for their inclusion in the Final 12 during Gilas’ series of training camps and tuneup matches in Manila and Europe over the next three months.

“Coach Chot said we want to form ‘the best team’ not necessarily the best players, given the identity of our group opponents,” SBP executive director Sonny Barrios told The STAR yesterday.

“We therefore ask our country men to fully support our national pool given the daunting task that lies ahead of them.”

Gilas is aiming to get past the first round and possibly finish as the top Asian team of the tournament to gain entry to the Paris Olympics.

The pool was scheduled for its first practice last night at the Meralco Gym.

By next week, the Nationals will set up camp at the Inspire Sports Academy in Laguna before going on a 16-day trip to Estonia and Lithuania for camps and friendlies against counterparts from Estonia, Latvia and Finland and club teams from Lithuania.

A pocket tournament in China is in the pipeline in early August and some more friendlies against early birds in Manila are being eyed before the World Cup opener.