Gilas raring to square off vs Qataris

DOHA, Qatar – Smart Gilas Pilipinas hopes to come out strong as it opens its campaign against Qatar in the 21st FIBA-Asia Champions Cup Sunday at the Al Gharafa Stadium here.

The Filipinos, reinforced by Serbian Milan Vucicevic and Fil-Am Chris Lutz, are bracing to go up against the Qataris, led by their American seven-foot import Michael Fey.

The nine-day tournament fires off tomorrow with Smart Gilas hoping to make full use of the opening day bye as they prepare against the taller Qatari squad.

Fey, a former UCLA standout, had earlier expressed interest in trying out for Team RP but opted to go to China and eventually ended up with Qatar where he will team up with Greg Wonder and a host of tall naturalized Africans in the meet.

“We’ll see what he (Fey) can do,” said Smart Gilas manager Frankie Lim.

The Filipinos, who left yesterday, will only have the 6-10 Vucicevic as their lone import in the tournament which allows a maximum of two imports per team.

But Smart Gilas will show up with Lutz, who is tipped to provide firepower in the absence of JV Casio and another Fil-Am, Marcio Lassiter, who were both sidelined by knee injuries.

The 6-4 Lutz played limited minutes in Gilas’ 99-113 loss in an exhibition game with Sta. Lucia the other day.

“He is still adjusting to the heat but we’re not worried, he’s going to be okay,” said Allan Gregorio, one of Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman’s assistants, referring to Lutz.

Smart Gilas also has a score to settle with Qatar after the former lost to the latter in the quarterfinals of last year’s edition in Indonesia.

“They beat us in Jakarta last year, we’ll see what we can do against them here,” said Toroman.

After Qatar, Smart Gilas takes on Astana Tigers of Kazakhstan Monday, defending champion Mahram of Iran Tuesday and Duhok of Iraq the next day in the tough Group A.

Group B is composed of Al Riyadi of Lebanon, Asu of Jordan, Al Jalaa of Syria, Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia and Al Nasr of United Arab Emirates.