The Macau squad that Gilas beat on the Good Araneta Coliseum final Monday was a far cry from the Black Bears whom Meralco repulsed in EASL on the MOA Area final October. Jenning Leung, a Filipino born in Laguna, was the one holdover. In opposition to Meralco, Leung scored 10 factors however towards Gilas, he erupted for 17, punctuated by 5 triples. Leung, 30, attended Brent then performed at McGill College, the identical Canada faculty the place PBA vet Sean Anthony noticed motion.
As a result of the Gilas send-off wasn’t FIBA-sanctioned, Macau got here with a souped-up roster that includes 5 People, a Nigerian, a Senegalese, a Macau-American, a Fil-Am and Leung. The Black Bears lineup listed 4 Macau natives, 7-6 Sam Deguara of Malta and Texan Leon Gilmore (performed one recreation for TNT within the 2022 PBA Governors’ Cup) however they had been DNPs towards Gilas.
The 5 People had been 6-5 William Douglas of Southern Methodist College and Prairie View A&M, 6-1 Bryson Dennis of NCAA D2 Claflin College, 6-4 Amorie Archibald of Louisiana Tech, 6-6 Omari Peek-Inexperienced of Delaware State and Alabama A&M and 6-0 Cole Micek of NAIA College of St. Francis, Illinois. The Nigerian was 6-9 Joseph Obasa, a former Ateneo overseas pupil athlete now enjoying for the Malaysian nationwide crew. The Senegalese was 6-10 Seny N’Diaye of West Virginia College. The Macau-American was 6-2 Phoenix Shackelford of NCAA D2 California State Poly at Pomona. The Fil-Am was 6-10 Quentin Millora-Brown of Rice College, Vanderbilt College, The Citadel and College of the Philippines. QMB is acknowledged as naturalized by FIBA regardless of submitting a Philippine passport purportedly issued earlier than he turned 16, a qualification to be categorized as a neighborhood.
Gilas coach Tim Cone had no thought of how the Black Bears play when the send-off began. On the three-day Clark coaching camp final weekend, Cone targeted on making ready for Gilas’ FIBA Asia Cup Group D opponents Chinese language-Taipei, New Zealand and Iraq. Macau wasn’t on the agenda.
So when the send-off started, the Black Bears stunned Gilas with an incredible show of perimeter firepower. Within the first half, Macau fired 12 of 17 from three and hit 56 % from the sphere, outscoring Gilas from the perimeter, 44 to 24. Within the second half, Cone made his changes with protection as the principle emphasis. Macau wound up pulling down solely certainly one of 10 from deep within the final 20 minutes as Gilas tightened the screws on the Black Bears’ gunners. Macau had solely two turnovers on the half however completed with 12.
Gilas began the second half with a 15-2 blast and opened the fourth quarter behind a 14-4 salvo, 9 factors from three Justin Brownlee triples. From 21 down within the second quarter, Gilas lastly wrested the lead, 84-83, within the fourth and held on to win, 103-98. June Mar Fajardo, Troy Rosario and Calvin Oftana didn’t play however Cone’s troops had greater than sufficient weapons to fend off Macau with JB, Dwight Ramos, AJ Edu, Kevin Quiambao and Scottie Thompson delivering double determine factors.