Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes is only making a slight tweak to his roster in the nationals’ final game in the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers against the revenge-seeking Jordan on Monday, Feb. 27.
Reyes, after Gilas' best scoring performance in the qualifiers courtesy of a 107-96 win over Lebanon, decided to stick to his reliables with only La Salle standout Kevin Quiambao the lone change in the roster.
The young big man, who made his Gilas debut back in the second window of the qualifiers, took the spot of TNT forward Calvin Oftana who was then relegated to the reserve list.
Joining Quiambao in manning the paint are June Mar Fajardo, naturalized import Justin Brownlee, teen Mason Amos and Jamie Malonzo while the backcourt will still be composed of Scottie Thompson, CJ Perez, Dwight Ramos, Jordan Heading, Ray Parks Jr., Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena.
The 21-year-old big man also played under Reyes in the FIBA Asia Cup last year where he displayed superb passing skill for a young big man.
Gilas will face a dangerous Jordan squad which drubbed India, 98-63, behind the stellar showing from Freddy Ibrahim and naturalized player Dar Tucker. In their first meeting, the Filipinos came out on top with a 74-66 win in Amman.