RJ, Rosario, Baltazar, Phillips named to Gilas 12 for July window
At A Glance
- RJ Abarrientos, Troy Rosario, Justine Baltazar and Mike Phillips are named to the Gilas Pilipinas final roster for the pair of road games in the third window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
RJ Abarrientos, Troy Rosario, Justine Baltazar and Mike Phillips are named to the Gilas Pilipinas final roster for the pair of road games in the third window of the 2027 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.
The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas made the announcement on Thursday, June 18, with Justin Brownlee, Scottie Thompson, AJ Edu, June Mar Fajardo, Chris Newsome, Kevin Quiambao, Dwight Ramos and Carl Tamayo also part of the crew.
Fresh off a championship in the PBA Season 50 Commissioner’s Cup, the Ginebra pair of Abarrientos and Rosario have been promoted to the main 12 along with Baltazar largely due to the national team’s manpower woes.
Phillips, who was the latest addition to the pool after getting the FIBA clearance to play as a local, was also immediately named into the 12 for the same reasons.
Rosario, Baltazar and Phillips are expected to hold the fort in the frontline for Gilas with Kai Sotto and Quentin Millora-Brown skipping the pair of road games against New Zealand and Australia on July 3 and 6, respectively.
Calvin Oftana is also down with an injury while Juan Gomez de Liaño and CJ Perez were the cuts.
Playing his best game in the PBA, even winning not only the PBA title but also his first Best Player of the Conference award, Abarrientos is expected to handle the offense for Gilas while also providing the much-needed outside shooting against the rugged Tall Blacks and Boomers.
Huge responsibility will also be on the shoulders of Fajardo and Edu, being the tallest in the 12-man lineup.
Gilas is already assured of advancing to the second round of the qualifiers although it still needs to pick up victories since the records in the first will be carried over to the next.
The Nationals are currently at the third spot in the Group A standings with a 2-2 record.