Gilas 3×3 squads launch SEAG campaign (Sabong News)
Author
Jonas Terrado
Date
MAY 12 2022
The Philippines launches its quest to retain supremacy in basketball Friday, May 13 with the 3×3 competitions of the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will play three games apiece in the first day of the halfcourt event at the Thanh Tri District Sporting Hall in the Vietnamese capital.
PBA-bound Brandon Rosser, Jorey Napoles, Reymar Caduyac and Marvin Hayes will take on Cambodia at 11 a.m. local time (12 noon Manila time), Thailand (3 p.m.) and Indonesia (5:20 p.m.) in the men’s side.
Afril Bernardino, Janine Pontejos, Clare Castro and Angel Surada, on the other hand, are scheduled to face Cambodia (1 p.m.), Vietnam (4 p.m.) and Thailand (6:20 p.m.) in the women’s division.
Rosser, Napoles, Caduyac and Hayes were tapped to don the Gilas Pilipinas jersey after the four joined forces to give Limitless the inaugural PBA 3×3 crown last December.
But they couldn’t pull off a repeat of that triumph a few weeks ago when Limitless lost to eventual second conference champion Pioneer Pro Tibay in the quarterfinals, yet Rosser believes it won’t hinder their chances of repeating the golden feat in 2019.
The Philippines ruled the first men’s 3×3 event in 2019, with PBA players CJ Perez, Chris Newsome, Mo Tautuaa and Jason Perkins taking the gold.
Bernardino, Pontejos and Castro were holdovers of the 2019 team that also ruled the distaff side, with Surada taking the place of Jack Animam.
Meanwhile, the standard 5-on-5 event won’t start until Monday, with the Filipinos looking to also sweep the men’s and women’s division.
