A Taiwanese club will get a first crack at Gilas Pilipinas before it leaves for Europe for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament from 2 to 7 July at the Arena Riga in Latvia.

Gilas team manager Richard del Rosario said they will face the Taiwan Mustangs on Monday at the Philsports Arena to cap their preparation for the prestigious tourney that serves as the last gateway to the Paris Olympics.

The game will be open to the public, giving fans a closer look at the national squad before it leaves on Tuesday for a pair of friendly matches against the national squad of Turkey and Poland in Istanbul.

The Taiwanese club is no easy foe.

Bannered by former National Basketball Association stars DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard and Quinn Cook, the Mustangs are expected to go hard as they are preparing for the Asian Tournament set from 26 July to 1 August in Taipei.

Their head coach is former Rain or Shine mentor Chris Gavina, who has players like 7-foot-6 Samuel Deguara and Filipinos Alex Cabagnot, Geo Chiu and Rashawn McCarthy in their roster.

Also in the team are Oscar Lopez, Tevis Robinson, Ray Miller, Kascius Martin, Ben Borja, Carl Snyder, Ethan Chung, Joe Vines, Jeff Yan and Mark Hall.

Gavina, however, couldn’t say if Cousins, Howard and Cook will be available to see action due to their very limited time to prepare.

“Quinn Cook and Cousins are eager to play but we’re trying our best in such a short time to make it happen,” Gavina said.

“But as I told coach Richard (Del Rosario) and coach Jong (Uichico) that I couldn’t promise them Dwight, Cook, and Cousins would be able to show up.”

Still, Gilas head coach Tim Cone welcomes the idea of having his squad play friendly matches against foreign clubs with barely a couple of weeks left before the OQT.

“Those friendlies are very important to us,” said Cone, who is presiding over the Gilas training at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna.