By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Gilas Pilipinas men’s national 3×3 squad is back for a shot at redemption in the upcoming FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup to be held in Singapore this week.
After a fourth-place finish last year, the PBA’s no. 1 3×3 player Almond Vosotros will be returning to lead the team together with TNT Tropang Giga teammate Samboy De Leon.
New additions in the lineup are big man Brandon Bates, a bruising center who can dominate the shaded lane and Vosotros’ PBA 3×3 rival, Jorey Napoles.
Calling the shots for the Gilas 3×3 squad is seasoned tactician Lester Del Rosario who is already prepared with their game plan when they take on the best 3×3 squads in all of Asia.
Last year, the Filipino hoopers failed to clinch the bronze medal when they lost in a nail-biting duel against China, 20-18.
Gilas had a great chance of clinching the bronze medal and engaged in a toe-to-toe affair after tying the ball game at 14 at the 3:49 mark.
With China taking a one-point lead, 14-15, Vosotros once again deadlocked the game after pulling off a sweet isolation crossover move against his defender and converted the breakaway layup.
The Chinese quartet then shifted their focus in their paint scoring and took advantage of Vosotros’ size every time they ran their pick-and-roll play.
After pounding the paint against the smaller Gilas roster, China suddenly established a three-point lead, 16-19, with only a minute left in the game.
PHL’s Lervin Flores resurrected Gilas’ hopes of pulling off another upset after burying a clutch three-pointer with 35 seconds left to trim their deficit to two points, 18-20.
China committed a costly turnover that gave the PHL’s a chance to pull within a point or tie the game at 20-apiece but Vosotros’ fading trey in the left elbow missed that gave the Chinese hoopers a new lease on life with 21.6 seconds in the clock.
For the second-straight time, China gave Gilas another chance after losing their grasp of the ball with 3 seconds left but Vosotros wasn’t able to carry on with his heroics and missed the game-tying shot at the top of the key.
