It was a total team effort.
Gilas Pilipinas may be far from the team Chot Reyes envisions it to be for the FIBA World Cup, but for one game at least, it looked plenty good.
Powered by a complete team effort, Gilas waylaid a young Iran squad in its first outing at the Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament in Guangdong, China on Thursday. Jamie Malonzo and Dwight Ramos led the way for Gilas, chipping in 11 and 10 points, respectively, with the latter scoring 8 markers in a nip-and-tuck first quarter.
Gilas, however, started taking control in the second canto, with AJ Edu and Rhenz Abando providing a spark off the bench.
Edu, who did not play in the team’s six games in Europe back in June, got his first taste of action in Guangdong, and he made sure to make an impact, contributing 5 points, 1 block, and a couple of rebounds in the second quarter alone. He finished with 9 points, 9 rebounds, and 1 block.
Abando, on the other hand, was a ball of energy on defense, closing out on shooters, pressuring the ball, and even getting high up for a highlight-reel worthy block that negated what would have been a sure deuce for Iran. The hyper-athletic Abando also hit a triple at the halfway mark of second period to add give Gilas a five-point advantage that it would never relinquish.
Also providing a spark for Gilas was Cjay Perez, who ended the third frame with a personal 7-0 run to push a 52-46 lead to a 59-46 advantage entering the fourth. Gilas padded that lead to as much as 20 early in the final period, but a late run by Iran made the score closer in the end.
Gilas will next take on Senegal on Friday, also in Guangdong.