By REYNALD MAGALLON
The Gilas Pilipinas men’s team took down Maldives and SEA Games 2025 gold medalist Thailand to qualify to the main draw of the FIBA 3X3 Asia Cup on Thursday, April 2.
The Nationals opened their campaign in style, overcoming Maldives, 21-16 before surviving a late rally from the Thais, 17-15 to top the qualifying group A.
Sean Alter was the star of the show in the first game, putting up 11 points to set the tone for Gilas.
The Nationals carried the momentum in the highly anticipated matchup against the Thais as this time, they flaunted their balanced attack to take an early 14-6 lead.
Thailand, however, would not simply fold as it came crawling back within one, 15-13, before simply running out of clock to take the game away from Gilas.
Ralph Cu led the way with six points while Jerrick Ahanmis and Chris Koon had five and four respectively. Alter had two.
The Nationals now take on Mongolia and Chinese Taipei in the main draw which begins Saturday.
