Injured Tamayo out of Gilas lineup for Korea rematch; Navarro, Nieto, Tungcab back

The Philippine national men’s basketball team’s lineup is set for their FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers rematch against South Korea on Sunday.

Gilas Pilipinas will again be bannered by Dwight Ramos, naturalized player Ange Kouame, teen prodigy Kai Sotto, team captain Isaac Go, Justine Baltazar, SJ Belangel and RJ Abarrientos. Those seven players will have suited up for all three of Gilas’ games in this third qualifying window.

Jordan Heading and Geo Chiu, who were activated in the team’s game against Indonesia on Friday, will remain in the lineup while William Navarro, Mike Nieto and Jaydee Tungcab, who played in the first Korea game last Wednesday, make their return after sitting out the team’s most recent game.

Carl Tamayo, who played in the first two games, will sit out the final game after incurring an injury in the game against Indonesia.

Javi Gomez de Liano and youngster Lebron Lopez will both be inactive for the game as well.

Gilas (5-0) has a chance to sweep all of their Group A games while Korea (4-1) has a chance for some payback when the two teams tip off at 3:00 p.m. at the Angeles University Foundation (AUF) Gym.

The Philippines won the first clash between the two teams last Wednesday, 81-78, on a buzzer-beater by Belangel.

Korea coach Cho Sang-hyun called the game-winner a “lucky shot”, which didn’t sit well with Gilas coach Tab Baldwin.

"We’re not going out on the court to lose. And in fact, we’ve already read that the Korean coach felt that we were lucky to win the game and frankly, I think that’s pretty rich of any coach to walk off of a game in which you lose and to claim that it was good luck on the part of your opponent," Baldwin said.

—JMB, GMA News