Pilipinas seeking back-to-back wins in FIBA-Asia Cup Qualifying

Photo c/o FIBA / FIBA-Asia Cup

The Philippines seeks to make it two-for-two against Thailand to close out Group A play in the second window on Monday night at the Khalifa Sports City in Manama, Bahrain.

Gilas Pilipinas delivered a 93-61 victory over the Thais on Friday night, led by Dwight Ramos' 20 points on 7/7 shooting.

The coaching staff led by head coach Jong Uichico made a couple of changes from that group for the upcoming rematch, inserting Calvin Oftana and Jaydee Tungcab for Will Navarro and Mike Nieto.

The staff also made the decision to hold out Allyn Bulanadi after Uichico hinted at a possible call-up during the post-match press conference, basing his availability on the couple of practices Gilas still had before submitting their lineups. The former San Sebastian Golden Stag injured his right shoulder during the preparations for the window and was deactivated for Friday's game.

Even with the impressive victory, Gilas is still looking at finetuning its game. Nieto acknowledged it during the post-match press conference.

He shares, "... we’ll look at our mistakes so that we’ll be more prepared..."

Thailand has yet to secure a win in Group A after three games, and is fresh from a 90-76 defeat to Indonesia on Saturday night. The ten-man squad had no answer to Lester Prosper and Brandon Jawato, with the former notching a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds, and the latter nearly producing a triple-double with 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists.

The win allows the 2023 FIBA World Cup co-hosts to secure third place Group A with a 1-2 record, behind the identical 2-0 records of the Philippines and Korea.