CALVIN Abueva of Gilas Pilipinas tests the defense of Mitchell Creek of Australia during their FIBA World Cup Asian qualifier match last February at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne. FIBA.NET PAYBACK TIME

BOCAUE, Bulacan – Gilas Pilipinas marches to warpath, looking to contain a bleeding Australian squad in the third window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifier Monday night at the Philippine Arena here.

Action starts at 7:30 pm with the host country tipped to go full blast in a bid to gain the top spot of Group B before marching into the second round where Group D qualifiers in Asian powerhouse Iran, Kazakhstan and Qatar are all waiting.

Gilas Pilipinas head coach Chot Reyes already made some last-minute changes in his personnel as he deploys Carl Bryan Cruz and Baser Amer to provide the defensive muscles against the Australians, who are still nursing the pain of their shocking 78-79 setback to Japan at the Chiba Port Arena in Chiba prefecture.

That loss was a severe blow to Australia, a team that is ranked 10th in the latest FIBA ranking that has yet to suffer any setback since the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in two years ago.

Despite the presence of NBA stalwarts Thon Maker and Matthew Dellavedova, the Aussies were miserable from the field, allowing Gonzaga hotshot Rui Hatchimura to torch them for 24 points and seven rebounds.

The 7-foot-1 Sudan-born Maker had 13 points and 12 rebounds while Dellavedova had only four points and eight assists for the visiting squad, which drew most of its firepower from gunner Chris Goulding.

“We didn’t come out with the intensity required to play at this level,” said Australia coach Andrej Lemanis.

“Japan did a good job exposing us. They were aggressive and moved the ball well.”

Lemanis said for them to bounce back, they have to take all the bitter lessons they gained and applied it against Gilas Pilipinas.

Goulding and Mitch Creek, who are averaging 13.3 and 13.0 points, respectively, in this prestigious qualifier that serves as the gateway to the Fiba World Cup next year in China, are tipped to be unleashed to remove the load off Dellavedova and Maker.

“We need to take some lessons from that game going into the battle against the Philippines,” Lemanis said.

Reyes knows that a wounded squad will do everything to survive.

That’s why aside from the deployment of Amer and Cruz for defensive purposes, he also instructed naturalized player June Mar Fajardo, Andray Blatche, Gabe Norwood and Jason Castro to work triply hard to avenge their 68-84 loss in the first window at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne.

Against Chinese Taipei, Fajardo — arguably the most dominant Filipino player of this generation — erupted for 22 points in an impressive 9-of-12 shooting from the field while Castro and Romeo had 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the Filipinos, who used a strong fourth-quarter explosion to put away the Taiwanese.

Despite the impressive win, Reyes admitted that their eyes are set at taming the Boomers.

“They will really come like wounded tigers into us today,” said Reyes. “So we have to be ready. We have to come in and play our best.”

Also tipped to come out strong for the Filipinos are Calvin Abueva, Japeth Aguilar, Troy Rosario, Matthew Wright and Roger Pogoy. Jio Jalalon and Allein Maliksi, meanwhile, will have to sit down to give way for Amer and Cruz.