Gilas Pilipinas rising star and Ateneo rookie Dwight Ramos talks about playing for the national team and getting the chance to learn from champion coach Tab Baldwin. 
 
(Photo courtesy of [FIBA](http://www.fiba.basketball/))

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Gilas Pilipinas rising star and Ateneo rookie Dwight Ramos talks about playing for the national team and getting the chance to learn from champion coach Tab Baldwin.

THE FUTURE: Dwight Ramos

Gilas makes its second appearance in the FIBA Asia Cup third qualifying window in Clark tonight and Indonesia looms as a formidable opponent. Coach Tab Baldwin’s Young Guns are on a high after shocking South Korea, 81-78, last Wednesday but they’ve got to stay grounded to beat Indonesia whose Serbian tactician Rajko Toroman knows Philippine-style basketball like the back of his hand. Toroman was once Gilas head coach and Indonesia’s naturalized player Lester Prosper is a former PBA import with tons of experience in Sweden, Slovakia, Canada, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Spain, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Venezuela, Panama and the UK. If experience is Indonesia’s trump card, youth is on Gilas’ side. 
 
Baldwin is tweaking his 12-man lineup for Indonesia, bringing in LeBron Lopez, Geo Chiu and Jordan Heading while sidelining Mike Nieto, Jaydee Tungcab and Will Navarro. Heading and Go, both 25, are the team’s seniors with Lopez, 18, and Kai Sotto, 19, the only teeners. Indonesia’s elders are New York-born Akri Wisnu, 33 and Prosper, 32. Indonesia’s average height is 6-2 but size isn’t a handicap for Toroman. In the first qualifying window in February last year, 5-8 Andakara Prastawa and 5-11 Abraham Grahita torched the Philippines by combining for 45 points, 7-of-17 from three-point range. Gilas, however, won, 100-70. The difference in tonight’s game, Gilas will be without a single PBA player while in that rout last year, the Philippines was bannered by seven PBA regulars plus Thirdy Ravena. Dwight Ramos and Isaac Go are the only holdovers from that squad playing tonight. 
 
Gilas’ upset over South Korea was a stunner, considering the hosts led only 8:47 minutes the entire game. The Koreans’ biggest lead was 17 and the Philippines’ largest margin was five. Baldwin played a tactical, calculating game and when it came down to winning or losing in the last few minutes, Korea’s naturalized import Ricardo Ratliffe was almost out of gas, disrupting the flow of his team’s pace by slowing down. The Koreans had more assists, 24-13, more fastbreak points, 16-6 and more second chance points, 17-10 but their physical style led to two key players fouling out and a wide disparity in free throws with Gilas hitting 18-of-25 to only 4-of- 6 for the visitors. Ratliffe scored all four charities. Gilas tallied more paint points, 38-32 and bench points, 34-26. Five Gilas players hit in double figures compared to only two for Korea and the balanced offense was critical because it confused the defense. It was a classic case of the underdog keeping the gap close and stealing the game in the end. 
 
“It was not a big surprise for me,” said Toroman, referring to the upset. “After (the second qualifying window) in Bahrain, I was talking that this (Gilas) team is talented and athletic. Now, they’ve added two big players (Ange) Kouame and Sotto. They’re both good but my choice (as the best player) is Ramos. He looks like a European player with good size, he’s tough and a good shooter. Kai showed his talent but he has to work on his body and you can see that he missed playing the last two years. We’ll try to be as much as possible competitive with Gilas and push them to the limit. In this moment, Gilas is a better team than Indonesia.” 
 
A keen Gilas observer who watched the Philippine-South Korea game via livestream in the US said Sotto can do more but “it was a good first game considering he hasn’t played team ball since Basketball Beyond Borders in February 2020 and even that was just an elevated scrimmage.” The source added: “If Kai continues on this trajectory and gets bigger and better in Australia, he’ll be a force in 2022. Credit to coach Tab for not allowing the team to fold up early. No one gives as much credit to how this young team literally clawed back from the jaws of death to punch out a win.” 
 
(From [The Philippine Star](https://www.philstar.com/sports/2021/06/18/2106333/rajko-not-surprised-gilas-won))

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Gilas’ upset over South Korea was a stunner, considering the hosts led only 8:47 minutes the entire game. The Koreans’ biggest lead was 17 and the Philippines’ largest margin was five.

Rajko not surprised Gilas won

Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons fell short of pulling the rug from under a taller and more experienced New Zealand, which pulled off a scary 2-1 win in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Continental Cup semifinals in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, on Friday. 
 
The tried and tested Rondina-Pons tandem pulled off a 21-12, 17-21, 15-9 win over Francesca Kirwan and Olivia MacDonald, giving hope to a Philippine side that earlier saw its bid in the men’s side quashed by Austrlia. Dij Rodriguez and Babylove Barbon couldn’t duplicate the victory and bowed to Alice Zeimann and Shaunna Polley, 14-21, 13-21, forcing a golden match. 
 
Zeimann and Polley proved to be the Kiwis’ power of strength and also dismissed the Philippine campaign—but not without some scary moments—with a 19-21, 21-10, 15-12 decision over Rondina and Pons. Despite the loss, Rondina savored her victory with Pons in the opening duel for the Philippines whose participation in the tournament is supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and [Philippine National Volleyball Federation](http://volleyballphilippines.com/) partner Rebisco. 
 
“We still have all the reasons to be happy. We beat New Zealand, we didn’t expect that against experienced veterans,” Rondina said. “Never mind that they were taller, we gave it our best sho and gave our country some exciting moments.” 
 
New Zealand joined Japan, 2016 Continental Cup titlist Australia, host Thailand, and zonal champions Vanuatu, Indonesia, Kazahkstan and China in the finals where an Olympic berth is at stake. 
 
In the golden match, the Kiwis made a major adjustment by forcing Pons to work more on offense over Rondina to even the match and force a deciding third set. New Zealand raced to 4-0 and 10-5 leads in the third set but were caught reeling behind Pons’s incursions that pushed the Filipinas to within 9-11. Sisi and Rondina threatened at 12-14 but the Kiwis held fort and got the win on a Pons service error. 
 
(Photo courtesy of the [Asian Volleyball Confederation](https://www.facebook.com/AsianVolleyballConfederation/))

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Sisi Rondina and Bernadeth Pons fell short of pulling the rug from under a taller and more experienced New Zealand, which pulled off a scary 2-1 win in the Asian Volleyball Confederation Continental Cup semifinals in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.

THE FUTURE: Dwight Ramos

17 Jun 21

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17 Jun 21

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THE FUTURE: Dwight Ramos

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