The Philippine National Basketball Team Downs the Australia in William Jones Cup

Chris Tiu One of the top guns of Philippine Naional team.

The Philippine Smart Gilas team under the tutelage of Rajko Toroman vented its ire on the taller and bigger Australian team to rebound from a first game loss to Asian basketball powerhouse Iran. The Philippines dismantled the Aussie team the Townsville Crocs on their second game to level its win loss slate to one a piece on this year’s William Jones Cup which is held in Hsinchuang gymnasium, Taiwan.

Top RP naturalization prospect Marcus Douthit and Greg Slaughter dominated the middle even as Dylan Ababou, Chris Lutz, JV Casio and Marcius Lassiter gave the team the much needed lift by their relentless and torrid outside sniping, to somewhat eased out the loss they absorbed against the Iranian which showed action in the last Olympics.

The RP team will battle dangerous and host con their third game. The Taiwanese team routed Townsville on the opening day 103-55 and came back on the second game by squeaking past compatriots Taiwan U All Stars.

Iran also posted an unblemished record so far by registering their second win against the resilient Japanese side 77-73.

The Filipinos are expected to have their hands full against the similarly fast and deadly shooters Taiwanese team on their third game.

Philippine Team Eyeing Jared Homan and More Filipino-Foreigner Players

The Philippine Smart Gilas team is now pinning its hope on Jared Homan as a naturalization prospect to reinforce the team in the shaded lane. The 27-year old Homan of Iowa State is currently playing in the Greek League as contract was sent and team as waiting for his reply.

The 6-10 Homan averaged an impressive 13.6 points and 8.1 rebounds in 31 outings. On his last game with Iowa State he amassed 19 points and 20 rebounds in a losing effort against eventual 2005 NCAA champion North Carolina.

The aggressive effort of the Gilas team is not only in acquiring a naturalized player but also plan to obtain promising Filipino-foreigners to bolster its lineup further.

The team is eyeing two Filipino-Italians 6’6 Christian Stanhardinger of Nebraska and 6’1 Chris Bancher of Seattle University. Filipino-America Chris Lutz of Marshall University is set to join the team in a tournament in Doha, Qatar.

The team’s itinerary in the remaining months ahead includes: a trip to Las Vegas to play five games and then the team departs to Canada to play three more games. The team is also competing in Stankovic Cup in Beirut, Lebanon, the Jones Cup in Taipei and the tough Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

In their recent Aussie stint the Philippine hacked out impressive and scintillating victories. The team came home with five wins and a draw.

In their trip to basketball powerhouse Serbia, the Philippine team missing a reinforcement in the middle and plagued with injuries, absorbed four losses and won just once. The Serbs mightily put the lights out of the Filipinos, by taking full advantage of their sheer height and heft. The losses of the Filipinos were on the Hands of Metalac Valjevo, 76-86, KK Hemofarm Stada Vrsac 67-98, Partizan Belgrad 71-87 and UKK Beograd 79-80. The solo win registered by the Filipinos was against Super Fund 91-84.

Fil-Am Marco Lassiter was the team’s brightest player in Serbia as he unleashed 17 points against Metalac and Beograd and 21 points against Partizan.

Filipino American Guard to Beef Up RP Gilas Team

Another talented recruit is set to bolster the Smart Gilas Philippine Basketball Team. Chris Lutz, the promising Filipino American guard from US NCAA Division I school Marshall University will join the team in May this year.

After the NCAA tournament, the 6 foot 3 Lutz will fly to the Philippines. Lutz is currently playing for the also-run Thundering Herd, which has piled up a 20-7 win loss slate and in contention for a berth in the US NCAA Tournament proper.

Smart Gilas manager Frankie Lim said, “Smart Gilas is wishing for him but he’ll only join the team on April or right after the US NCAA.”

Now on his fourth year in Marshall University, Lutz is averaging 8.6 points, 1.9 rebounds and an assist and a steal in 27 games. Lutz is also known to be threat in the three-point area. Smart Gilas is set to train in Sydney, Canberra and Perth in Australia this March 12, then to Serbia from March 26 to the first few weeks of April. Lutz will join the team and finally given to display his feisty basketball skills in April 22 to 30 when the team travels to Las Vegas.