DOHA - Gilas Pilipinas struggled badly in the first half before working on a wondrous turnaround in the second half en route to a 92-81 win over Qatar in their initial match before lonely empty seats at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last September.
But with their back against the wall and playing before a sellout crowd that is expected to be mostly Filipinos, the Nationals vow to churn out best effort from the get-go in their rematch at the Al-Gharaffa Stadium Sports Club Mutli-Purpose Hall at 7 p.m. Thursday here (12 midnight in Manila).
Pressure is heavy on the Nationals as they're hard pressed to sweep their last two games in the FIBA World Cup qualifier to make the World Cup proper in China later this year. The Qataris, meanwhile, are now just in the process of completing a failed bid in the FIBAWC eliminator.
Making up the Gilas lineup for the Qatar match are Andray Blatche, June Mar Fajardo, Poy Erram Troy Rosario, Japeth Aguilar, Paul Lee, Mark Barroca, Gabe Norwood, Marcio Lassiter, Scottie Thompson, Jayson Castro and Thirdy Ravena.
RR Pogoy serves out the last of his five-game suspension while Raymond Almazan was dropped out of the list due to an ankle sprain suffered in practice Sunday.
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Among the Gilas players here, six -- Aguilar, Lee, Lassiter, Erram, Thompson and Norwood -- were in Team Phl lineup that pulled off the come-from-behind 11-point triumph over the Qataris in a closed-door match at the Big Dome during the FIBAWC fourth window.
Blatche, Castro and Rosario were then suspended in the aftermath of the Gilas-Australia brawl while Fajardo was out due to an injury.
It took Gilas a pressing defense and a running attack to wear down the tall, rugged Qatar team then eventually salvage the game.
Qatar is to field in practically the same lineup for the rematch at the 3,000-seater Al-Gharafa Stadium where Gilas may well feel the home court atmosphere away from home.
"They (the Qataris) themselves expect Gilas to be like the home team since 300,000 Filipinos are here in Qatar," said Rhea Navarro, a former Filipina sportswriter who's been working with the Qatar cage federation for a decade now.(SB)
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