MANILA, Philippines – After serving their respective one-game suspensions from FIBA, Gilas Pilipinas mainstays Japeth Aguilar and Matthew Wright return to national team duty. 

Aguilar and Wright were slotted back in the Philippines’ 12-man squad as the country hosts Qatar to cap off the fourth window of the 2019 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers at the Araneta Coliseum on Monday, September 17. 

The two standouts replace Raymond Almazan and Allein Maliksi while Stanley Pringle suits up as Gilas’ naturalized player in lieu of Christian Standhardinger, who did most of the heavy lifting in a 73-81 loss to Iran last Thursday, September 13. 

Completing the lineup are Scottie Thompson, Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter, Paul Lee, Poy Erram, Gabe Norwood, Beau Belga, Asi Taulava and Ian Sangalang.

Gilas pool member Greg Slaughter is still sidelined as he recuperates from his ankle injury that prevented him from seeing action against Iran. 

“Greg Slaughter was not given the green light to play. We are hoping that in the December window, both Greg and June Mar (Fajardo) will finally be healthy to represent Gilas Pilipinas,” said Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Al Panlilio in a statement.

Team Pilipinas, which holds third place in Group F with a 4-3 card, aims for a bounce-back game against Qatar, which resides at the bottom of the bunch with a 2-5 slate.

Aguilar and Wright served the one-game suspensions handed to them for figuring in the infamous brawl  between the Philippines and Australia.

–Rappler.com