MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas played with a depleted lineup in its 106-53 romp of Chinese Taipei in the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers on Sunday, February 25, as it missed the services of Jamie Malonzo.

Head coach Tim Cone said Malonzo fell ill after the Filipinos’ 30-point road win against Hong Kong, leaving the team with only 10 players in their homestand against the visiting Taiwanese at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

Cone bared Justin Brownlee also felt under the weather following their four-day trip in Hong Kong.

“Actually, [Jamie] and Justin were both sick coming home. We got home from Hong Kong, they both got sick. We were really afraid that neither of them would play, but Justin kind of bounced back,” said Cone.

“Jamie, we contemplated bringing him to the hospital, he’s that down and out. Hopefully, he’ll bounce back and get better. We sent our doctors to him and put him on IV.”

Aside from Malonzo, the Nationals also played without injured big men June Mar Fajardo (calf) and AJ Edu (knee).

National team veteran Japeth Aguilar came in to help fill the gaping hole in the middle for the squad.

Even with a shorthanded roster, though, the Philippines dominated and defended its turf with conviction, cruising to a 53-point victory.

Brownlee showed the way for the Filipinos with 26 points on top of 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 blocks.

Cone said he and his staff need to do a better job in making sure that the players are healthy as they play more road games in the future, with the Riga, Latvia leg of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament coming up in July.

“I think maybe some of the guys just got severely dehydrated on the trip and we didn’t hydrate well enough. I’ve got to be more cognizant of that and make sure that guys are doing that better,” said Cone.

“That’s really on us to make sure that doesn’t happen. Viruses are all over the place so you never know when someone’s going to pick something up.”

With the first window of the Asia Cup Qualifiers coming to a close, the players return to their mother teams in their respective leagues before they reunite for a chance to qualify for the Paris Games. – Rappler.com