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Gilas Pilipinas in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. Photo by Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News.
MANILA — Gilas Pilipinas is a step closer to clinching their spot in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in Saudi.
The Nationals were able to do so after they routed Hong Kong on Sunday, 93-54, and this allowed them to finish the first two windows of the qualifiers with a 4-0 record, currently the top seed of Group B.
READ: Big game from Carl Tamayo powers Gilas' rout of Hong Kong
However, despite the joyous mood in front of over 11,000 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, one player did not see action against Hong Kong — Gilas fan favorite Dwight Ramos.
Fans in MOA pleaded for Ramos to come into the game by starting a ‘We want Dwight’ chant, and no less than Gilas head coach Tim Cone heard the clamor from the spectators.
Gilas Pilipinas’ Dwight Ramos in the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers. Photo by Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News.“There was a fan on the front row and I told him: ‘He was injured, we can’t play him’,” Cone revealed during the postgame presser, before explaining why Ramos sat out the game.
“I love Dwight. I’m like all the girls, but I just love him for different reasons. I love him for his basketball mind and his talent, girls like him for his looks. I can’t like him for his looks, but I love him for his basketball brain,” quipped Cone.
“I, more than anybody, wanted to put him on the floor. I guarantee you, I wasn’t holding him out for any other reason other than the fact that he pulled his calf muscle in the late stages of the New Zealand game.”
“He tried to practice yesterday, he tried to do shootaround, but we weren’t sure. We said that we would try to warm up and see it, but he was still feeling pain. To be honest, I would have pushed him to play if we were playing New Zealand [today], but we felt that we could rest him and be careful with him in this game.”
Cone added that even team manager Alfrancis Chua gave him an idea on how to put Ramos in the game, but it ultimately couldn't be done as they did not want to aggravate his injury.
Gilas Pilipinas head coach Tim Cone and team manager Alfrancis Chua. Photo by Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News.“Even Alfrancis Chua suggested: ‘Why don’t we put him for 30 seconds, and he could just stand on the court.’ But I don’t know if that would work, so I didn’t do that,” shared Coach Tim.
“I was under orders from the training staff that he should not play, so I gotta do what’s best for him. That’s best for him because he gotta go back and play in Japan to keep his career going. We didn’t want to blow his calf.”
Ramos, who had 11 points, six rebounds, and four assists in their win against the Kiwis last Thursday, will be rejoining Levanga Hokkaido in the Japan B.League.
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