Ambassador Joe to inspire Guam

Joe Blas is known as the face of Guam basketball, the island’s ambassador of hoops. He’s played for the Guam national team since 2009 and surprisingly at 37, he’s not the oldest player on the squad that will host Gilas in the FIBA World Cup Asia qualifying window at the Calvo Fieldhouse today. The senior status belongs to 6-7 Tai Wesley who averaged 17.7 points and 7.7 rebounds for Guam at the recent FIBA Asia Cup in Jeddah.

Blas didn’t play in Jeddah but logged eight games, hitting 4.6 points an outing, at the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers. Back in 2009 at the Oceania Championships in Saipan, 6-3 Blas averaged 15.8 points. He’s not as prolific now but still an inspiring force for Guam. Blas, who owns a barber stop in the island, is a fan favorite and will surely get the crowd on its feet during the Gilas game.

Wesley, 39, is another Guam basketball legend and has been on the national team since 2015. He was born in Utah to a Rotuman father and American mother. Wesley lived in Guam from five to 11 years old while his father worked in a local university. He played four years at D1 Utah State, improving his scoring norm from 9.9 to 12 to 13.7 to 14.8 season after season. The high-scoring forward saw action in 10 years in the Australian NBL, winning two championships in the process. Wesley also suited up in the Netherlands, France, New Zealand and Puerto Rico.

Guam’s average age is 29.7 with Wesley, Blas, 6-2 Jericho Cruz (35), 6-6 Mark Johnson (33), 6-3 Daren Hechanova (32) and 6-0 Kirston Lee Guzman (31) all over 30. The youngest is 5-11 DJ Osborn, 19. The others in the lineup are 6-10 Jonathan Galloway, 29, 6-2 Isaiah Africano, 27, 6-0 Takumi Fukuda Simon, 25, 5-10 Tomas Calvo, 25 and 6-9 Matt Fegurgur, 24. Africano, whose father is Colombian and mother is from Ilocos Norte, played at D3 Pacific University and entered the PBA draft this year but wasn’t picked. He averaged 5.7 points in 25 games for Pacific in 2022-23.

Galloway played four years with the University of California at Irvine varsity and went on to see action in Denmark, Croatia, Switzerland, Turkey, Finland, Czech Republic, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Mongolia. At the last FIBA Asia Cup, he averaged 6.8 points and 7.5 rebounds. Missing in action for Guam is 6-6 Earnest Ross who’s playing in the Japan D3 B-League. Cruz, on deck against San Miguel Beer teammates JuneMar Fajardo and CJ Perez, said Galloway, Wesley and Ross could play in the PBA as imports. He described Galloway as defense-minded and mentioned that Wesley was once considered to play for Alaska. In Guam’s first-ever FIBA Asia Cup win last August, Wesley and Cruz scored 21 each to spark the 82-73 win over Syria. Simon, who is half-Japanese, added 15.

Guam has never faced the Philippines in a FIBA competition so tonight’s clash is historic. Cruz said it’s the biggest event in Guam’s basketball history. Gilas and Guam are in a tough World Cup Asia qualifying group with Australia and New Zealand. The top three will advance to the second round so if Australia and New Zealand are shoo-ins to move up, the last qualifier will be either the Philippines or Guam. It’s why this two-game window is crucial. After tonight’s contest, Gilas will host Guam at the Blue Eagle gym on Dec. 1.