FIBA ASIA CUP 2017 : GILAS PILIPINAS SWEEPS GROUP B AS MORE THAN 2000 FILIPINOS CHEER ON

Gilas Pilipinas went on to sweep Group A of the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 in Beirut, Lebanon by beating Qatar, 80 - 74. With June Mar Fajardo still injured and Christian Standhardinger also sitting out due to a bad case of stiff neck, the Philippines had to rely on the sweet shooting of Matthew Right who finished with 25 points which included 7 three pointers.

Calvin Abueva also slipped in the second quarter and was not able to come back, our big guys having early foul trouble and Terrence Romeo was also misfiring, Gilas Pilipinas was able to play good team ball and had great performances from Gabe Norwood and Carl Bryan Cruz.

But what made this win special is that more than 15 bus fulls of Filipinos came out to support the team and the stadium felt like homecourt for the team. It is really amazing how Filipinos support Gilas where ever they play. They also get a chance to meet their idols after the game.

More than 2,000 Filipinos in Beirut to meet the Gilas Pilipinas: https://t.co/dfQQEM8F7X 😵🇵🇭🎉 #FIBAAsiaCup2017 pic.twitter.com/wWKj5xlkSX

— FIBA (@FIBA) August 13, 2017

With this win, Gilas Pilipinas advances automatically to the the quarterfinals, joining other top teams from the other groups - Australia, New Zealand and Iran. They will be battling against the winner of the game tonight between Korea and Japan. Whoever wins will definitely be a challenge for Gilas since both Korea has been a constant antagonist of Gilas while Japan gave us a good fight in the 2015 FIBA Asia Championships.

With 3 days rest, the Filipinos will definitely prepare hard for the game on Wednesday. Surely, Standhardinger and Abueva will be back to play and all are playing for June Mar to be able to play as well.

Laban Pilipinas!

FIBA ASIA CUP 2017 : GILAS PILIPINAS WINS OVER IRAQ, GETS SURE QUARTERFINAL SLOT

Gilas Pilipinas got over a slow first half and came back guns ablaze in the third quarter to seal the win against the tough Iraq team, 84 - 68 at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup in Beirut, Lebanon.

After a close first half which ended at 32-31 in favor of Gilas, the Filipinos broke the game open on the 26-9 scoring run in the 3rd quarter to seal the game. The duo of Terrence Romeo and Christian Standhardinger provided crucial runs in the said quarter to help the Gilas squad to lead as much as more than 20 points and never look back from there. Romeo finished with 17 points and Standhardinger with 16 points, topscoring for the Philippines.

With this win, the Philippines is now sure of the top seed in Group B irregardless of the result of the match against Qatar on Sunday. This means that the Gilas Pilipinas will avoid going against Australia and New Zealand which is expected to top their respective groups.

Most probably, the Philippines will face the winner between Japan and Korea or Lebanon in the quarterfinals.

Another great win for Gilas Pilipinas! #LabanPilipinas

GILAS PILIPINAS: LINE UP FOR THE 2017 FIBA ASIA CUP REVEALED

The line up of the Gilas Pilipinas for the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup 2017 has been revealed shortly after the deadline last Tuesday night. Coach Chot Reyes posted this tweet in his account :

12 men; 12 practices; hopefully for 12 days in Beirut #LabanPilipinasPuso pic.twitter.com/AIrfSKO2GV

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) July 25, 2017

The line up include Gilas veterans Calvin Abueva, Japeth Aguilar, June Mar Fajardo, Terrence Romeo, Raymond Almazan and reigning best point guard in Asia Jayson Castro. Making a comeback for Gilas is our defense specialist - Gabe Norwood.

Also making the line up are Gilas cadets from the SEABA champion team RR Pogoy, Matthew Wright and Jio Jalalon. Making his first seniors mens team appearance is cadet Carl Bryan Cruz. Our naturalized player for this tournament is Fil-German Christian Standhardinger who impressed us in his Jones Cup performance.

Notably absent from the line up as compared to the SEABA team are Allein Maliksi, Troy Rosario and Andray Blatche, Troy will instead play with the remaining Gilas cadets in the Southeast Asian Games and try to retain the country's supremacy in the region. Blatche on the other hand said that there are multiple reasons on why the cannot join the team in Lebanon.

The FIBA Asia Cup will be on August 9 to 20, 2017 in Lebanon and games will be aired in TV% and Aksyon TV.

GILAS PILIPINAS : FINAL 12 FOR 2015 FIBA ASIA CHAMPIONSHIP NAMED

The final 12 members of Gilas Pilipinas that will try to get the ticket to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games has been named by Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas. The announcement came on the night of the deadline of the final team rosters for the event which will happen in 2 weeks time.

The Gilas pool has just came back from a silver medal finish from the 2015 Jones Cup in Taiwan and is now preparing for the inaugural 2015 MVP Cup which is their final preparation before the Asian Championship in China.

The final 12 players are Gilas 2.0 holdovers Ranidel de Ocampo, Marc Pingris, Gabe Norwood and Jayson Castro; veterans Asi Taulava and Dondon Hontiveros, Sonny Thoss, Matt Ganuelas, Gilas rookies JC Intal, Calvin Abueva and Terence Romeo and naturalized player Andray Blatche.

NBA sophomore Jordan Clarkson was initially in the list but has not yet been given the green light by FIBA to play as a natural born citizen is out of the final line up. There is also schedule conflicts due to the preparations for the upcoming NBA season. But kudos to Clarkson for expressing his interest to play for the flag and country.

Big thank you as well to the other players in the pool for not turning your backs to the flag's call - Gary David, Aldrech Ramos, Jimmy Alapag (who I think will be an assistant coach) and PBA rookies Troy Rosario and Moala Tautua.

terence romeo makes waves in fiba 3x3 world tour

pro-basketball player terence bill romeo made waves in the recently concluded fiba 3x3 world tour championship in tokyo, japan. romeo was part of the manila west team with rey guevarra, kaldrech ramos and kg canaleta that qualified by topping the manila leg of the qualifiers.

despite being one of the smallest players in the tournament, romeo was able to make a mark with his ankle breaking move and steady shooting. here is a feature on romeo posted in the 3x3 planet youtube site :

romeo was also in 2 of the 5 top plays of the tournament. he got the number 5 and number 2 play in this video in the same youtube channel :

despite winning only 1 game in the tokyo finals, manila west ranked 5th in the final ranking. this is a good placing considering the fact that the team was only formed a few months before and this is their first world championship. after the tournament, romeo's world ranking rose from number 150 to 64. hope he continues to participate in 3x3 tournaments to further boost his rankings.