THE national men’s team won a tuneup match against visiting Korean Basketball League team Ulsan Hyundai Mobis Phoebus, 91-86, on Thursday afternoon at the San Miguel Corp. Sports Facility in Pasig City.
It was a victory Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone described as close to ugly.
‘We won a close game, we did not play well,’ Cone told the BusinessMirror via text message. ‘But the game gave us a good indication of where we are and how far we must go to get ready for the window[s].’
The tuneup game was part of Gilas Pilipinas’s preparations for the fourth window of the FIBA 2027 World Cup Asia Qualifiers where the Philippines plays Jordan on August and Iran on August 30 both at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
No stats were provided to the media in the game where Kai Sotto made his comeback in a Gilas uniform.
Sotto has started practicing with the pool that includes RJ Abarrientos, Justin Baltazar, Justine Arana, AJ Edu, Juan Gomez de Liaño, June Mar Fajardo, Chris Newsome, Kevin Quiambao, Dwight Ramos, Troy Rosario, Carl Tamayo, Scottie Thompson, CJ Perez, Roger Pogoy and 6-foot-10 Geo Chiu.
Only naturalized player Justin Brownlee is nowhere to be seen.
‘Justin [Brownlee] is not with us yet,’ Cone said, adding his prized import at Ginebra is recovering from knee injuries in the US.