Gilas-Black Bears friendly in the works

Gilas Pilipinas will be clashing with the Macau Black Bears in a friendly duel before leaving for the FIBA Asia Cup set in Saudi Arabia this August.

A reliable source from the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) told DAILY TRIBUNE that they are working hard to bring in the Black Bears to serve as Gilas Pilipinas’ final challenge before seeing action in the Asia Cup.

Details have yet to be finalized but Gilas coach Tim Cone wants to play their send-off game at the Philsports Arena either on 29 or 30 July since they will be leaving for the mineral-rich kingdom on the 31st.

“We are working on playing against the Macau Black Bears before leaving for Jeddah as our send-off game,”

the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the federation is still ironing out the details.

“We’re still finalizing all the details.”

The Black Bears will be a good challenge for Gilas Pilipinas.

For one, they beat the Chinese national squad, 83-78, in a historic and dramatic match that was streamed live and reportedly had “more views than the Super Bowl.”

Since then, the Black Bears gained a reputation as a powerhouse squad in the East Asia Super League (EASL) with the goal of becoming one of the best club teams in Asia while promoting the basketball culture and heritage of Macau, Hong Kong and Southern China.

The head coach of the squad is Garrett Kelly, who used to be the director of men’s basketball operation at Memphis University being coached by former National Basketball Association star Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.

Expected to lead the Black Bears are Palestinian-Canadian scorer Jamal Mayali, Chun Hon Ting, former Philippine Basketball Association import Sam Deguara and Jenning Leung, a Filipino-Canadian who was born in Los Baños and studied at Brent International School before embarking on a successful professional career.

“They (Black Bears) beat China before because they have a lot of quality players so we expect our national squad to get good competition before leaving for the FIBA Asia Cup,” the source added, hinting at the possibility of having the game free to the public similar to what Gilas Pilipinas had done in its past send-off match.

Gilas, on the other hand, has yet to reconvene its training as the PBA Philippine Cup is still in full swing.

The national side, however, is expected to parade the same roster bannered by June Mar Fajardo, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Dwight Ramos and Justin Brownlee, who is tipped to be fit and ready after suffering a thumb injury during the PBA Commissioner’s Cup finals.