GILAS PHILIPPINES VS NEW ZEALAND
Date: Monday September 4, 2015
Time: 1:00 p.m. Philippine Time
Venue: Xinchuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, Taiwan
The Philippine national men’s basketball team, playing its sixth game in six days, aims to bounce back from a tough outing as it tussles with New Zealand club Wellington Saints in the 37th William Jones Cup on Friday at the Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, Taiwan.Gilas Pilipinas and the Saints play at 1 p.m. live on TV5. (Check out Jones Cup schedules and standings here.)
The Filipinos are still reeling from a 74-65 defeat to tormentor Iran on Thursday. Despite Gilas Pilipinas’ efforts, they were still unable to stop big man Hamed Haddadi who posted 22 points and 15 rebounds.
About to play its sixth consecutive game, fatigue may have already set in for the Filipinos and an ankle injury to Terrence Romeo, a big revelation for the team in the tournament, isn’t helping them. His availability against the Saints is in question.
The loss to Iran saw Gilas Pilipinas slide to fifth place at 3-2, with Iran (5-1), Chinese Taipei A (4-1), Russia (4-2) and South Korea (4-2) ahead of them. But it is still possible for the Filipinos to move up further in the team standings, making the game against the Saints crucial if they still want to vie for the Jones Cup title.
The Wellington Saints were New Zealand’s 2014 champion and fell short of winning a back-to-back title this year. They’ve won two of their five games in the Jones Cup so far, with their latest win coming at the expense of winless Japan, 89-81, on Thursday.
Instrumental to the Saints’ win over Japan are Eric Devendorf and playing coach Kevin Braswell who scored 21 points apiece for the team.
Earlier, they also won over Chinese Taipei B (102-85) but lost to Russia (98-94), South Korea (74-70) and Iran (83-70).