By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Gilas Pilipinas men’s national basketball team got back at Senegal during their Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament rematch held at the Heyuan Sport Gymnasium in China.
Gilas made their adjustments against Senegal and bounced back with an impressive 75-63 victory to improve their Chinese pocket tournament record to 2-1.
After a 72-64 loss in their first encounter, the Filipino hoopers were eager to exact their revenge and did it in style after trailing at the end of the first half.
It was a classic Senegalese early rally as their length and mobility bothered Gilas’ early offensive looks while also executing their offensive executions to perfection.
Senegal played the same approach against the PHL national team and pounded its way in the shaded lane, capitalizing on their length and efficient offensive rebounding that piled up their second-chance points.
When Gilas needed someone to get going to stop the bleeding, young big man stalwart AJ Edu answered the call for head coach Chot Reyes and began doing damage in the three-point line.
Senegal was always going underneath Gilas’ pick-and-pop play, leaving Edu at the top of the key wide-open for a comfortable three-point look.
Just when Senegal thought they could kick off the third frame like the first quarter, the Gilas boys countered by pushing the ball more and executing their sets faster.
Chris Newsome was huge and spearheaded Gilas’ third-quarter rally after scoring back-to-back buckets while diming the leather to an open Japeth Aguilar underneath to help the PHL retake the lead, 43-41, with 5:45 remaining in the period.
After that sequence, the Gilas squad just waxed hot from the field and didn’t allow Senegal to capitalize on every facet of the game.
Bobby Ray Parks Jr. then iced the game for the PHL after a scoring barrage in the last eight minutes of the final canto.
With Senegal trying to steal the game away from Gilas after converting on a huge trey to trim their deficit to seven points, 67-60, Kiefer Ravena officially fended off their courageous fightback when he answered with a huge triple to extend the lead back to 10 points, 70-60, with only a minute left in the game.
Edu led Gilas with another all-around performance of 15 points and seven rebounds backstopped by CJ Perez who chipped in 14 markers.
