Gilas seeks automatic entry vs Japan

MANILA, Philippines — Jayson Castro, Jio Jalalon and Troy Rosario return to action as Gilas Pilipinas hosts Team Japan tonight, seeking a repeat of its 77-71 win in their Tokyo match last November for an automatic entry to the next round of the FIBA Asia World Cup qualifiers.

Castro, Jalalon and Rosario join Andray Blatche, June Mar Fajardo, Japeth Aguilar, Roger Pogoy, Kiefer Ravena, Matthew Wright, Gabe Norwood, Calvin Abueva and Allen Malicsi in the Gilas lineup for their second home game in the FIBAWC eliminator set at 7:30 p.m. at the MOA Arena.

Sitting out the match are Kevin Alas, Carl Bryan Cruz and Abu Tratter.

Coach Chot Reyes wants more quickness and hustle, thus, he’s bringing in Castro and Jalalon against a Japanese side now hard pressed to win after losing all three previous matches, including a 69-70 heartbreaker versus Chinese Taipei Thursday in Tokyo.

With a 2-1 slate following a 68-84 loss to Australia, Team Phl could still safely make it to the next round with repeat wins over Japan and Chinese Taipei.

The Nationals seek to seal the deal versus the Japanese in a match where they hope to draw energy from the home fans.

“We are looking to get an adrenaline lift from the crowd,” said the Gilas chieftain. “We are really hoping and counting on the hometown support, the sixth man, to really lift us because we will definitely need it.”

On Nov. 24, Gilas rode high on the exploits of Castro, Blatche, Wright and Norwood to fashion out a triumphant start in the FIBAWC.

Castro piled up 20 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Blatche tallied 13 markers and 12 boards while Wright and Norwood were two other Gilas players to finish in double figures with 12 and 10, respectively.

With some rest, Castro is likely to be rejuvenated and could be Gilas’ lead force again.

Jalalon is the third guard behind Castro and Ravena, and could help with his hustle, defense and ability to pressure the ball.

The Japanese, however, are expected to do their utmost best to pull off an upset.

“We want to win. If we can beat the Philippines, (it would be) great. Or if we can beat Chinese Taipei away by two points, then we can go to the second round,” Lamas said in a FIBA.com report. “It’s not the situation we want, but it’s the situation we have now.”

The Filipinos set out for the match bringing with them valuable lessons learned from their loss to the Aussies.

“I thought we would grow. I thought we grew,” said Reyes in their Melbourne sojourn where the Nationals made a good account of themselves in a long stretch of the game.

“We’re upset and disappointed that we lost but we’re happy we learned a lot from the ball game just playing the kind of quality of players Australia has, the 40-minute pressure, handling the pressure, handling the physicality,” Reyes also said.

Reyes thought they earned positive vibes in holding their own against the tall, well-organized Australian team at least in the first 27 minutes of the game.

“The good thing about this game is now we know that we can take them,” said Reyes.