Depleted Gilas five battles Malaysians

JAKARTA – Smart Gilas Pilipinas hopes its massive firepower and talent will be enough to carry the injury-hit squad to victory as it kicks off its title drive in the Southeast Asian Basketball Association Championship against Malaysia today at the Britama Arena Sports Mall here.

The Nationals are fielding in a 10-man roster, including five who are either ailing or injured. But coach Rajko Toroman remains confident of his wards’ to dominate the ninth staging of the annual event which stakes berths in the FIBA-Asia Championship in Wuhan, China in September.

The Wuhan meet is the qualifying event for the 2012 London Olympics.

“With or without these injuries, nothing changed and our goal remains the same, which is to be champion of SEABA,” said Toroman.

The Nationals wound up fourth in the import-laced FIBA-Asia Champions Cup at the Philsports Arena early this month, their last big tournament before the SEABA tilt, making them the solid favorites to rule the four-day event.

They hope to start it right, with a win against a smaller Malaysian side at 4 p.m. (5 p.m. Manila time) with naturalized Marcus Douthit, Chris Tiu, Mark Barroca, Mac Baracael and Jason Ballesteros tipped to start for the team.

The rest are nursing injuries, including JV Casio (foot), Japeth Aguilar (ankle), Chris Lutz (quadriceps) and Marcio Lassiter (backspasm) while Dylan Ababou is coming off a bout with fever.

“I hope some of them, if not all, will see some action because we will need all the help we could get,” said Toroman.

The Phl needs just two victories to secure a berth in the Wuhan meet slated Sept. 11-25.

After Malaysia, Smart Gilas takes on host Indonesia at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. Phl time) tomorrow before closing out its elims campaign against Singapore 4 p.m. (5 p.m. Phl time) on Saturday.

The top two teams, although assured of slots in the Asian tournament, will dispute the SEABA crown.

The Nationals will also miss the services of PBA players Asi Taulava of Meralco, Dondon Hontiveros of Air21 and Kelly Williams and Jimmy Alapag of Talk n Text with the pros set to rejoin the squad only after the conclusion of the ongoing PBA Governors Cup.

Seven-footer Greg Slaughter and 6-6 Aldrech Ramos also opted to be left behind to play for Ateneo and Far Eastern U, respectively, in the UAAP which begins July 10.