What made Chris Newsome's Gilas debut extra-special

MANILA, Philippines — Meralco Bolts' Chris Newsome's first tour of duty with Gilas Pilipinas was special in many ways.

Beside marking a personal achievement of representing the flag, Newsome said his stint with the Nationals in the fourth window of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers was memorable due to another special factor.

This was because Newsome, a product of the Ateneo Blue Eagles program, was reunited with his fellow Katipunan squad alumni Kiefer and Thirdy Ravena.

Having shared the court already once in their career, it was a different feeling to have done it once again with "Pilipinas" spread across their chest.

"It was amazing. Actually, me and Thirdy and Kiefer [were] talking about it earlier, and Thirdy made a joke... Thirdy let out a nice joke, earlier. He was saying like, 'Hey, what's up, rookie?' Once, I was Thirdy's rookie, and it was just kind of nice to re-establish that relationship with those guys," Newsome said after Gilas Pilipinas' 84-46 whopping of Saudi Arabia on Monday.

"We talk frequently, and they know I'm always rooting for them in Japan, and vice versa, they're always sending me messages whenever I'm here in the PBA, whenever I'm in the semis, they're always encouraging me. So it was nice to be on the court with them," he added.

Newsome said that throughout their careers, he has seen the two blossom into better hooper, and that he looked forward to sharing the court with them once more.

Despite having to share minutes with a stacked roster, Newsome said it was a blessing to be a part of the team.

"You know, Kiefer, he's maturing a lot, and as a captain, he's definitely matured. You can tell that he's accepted that role as captain, and he was the one that pulled me aside and was explaining all the rules of FIBA, because it's a different ball game, it's a different set of rules. So yeah, definitely Kiefer is a great leader for us," said Newsome.

"I'm just super excited to be on that court with them again. It doesn't matter if I'm playing five minutes, or 12 minutes, or 20 minutes. I'm just gonna give everything I have, and I think you can see that with all the other guys as well," he continued.

Apart from the Ravena brothers, Newsome said it was nice to play with Barangay Ginebra's Japeth Aguilar and Scottie Thompson.

"It's also nice to be teammates with Japeth and Scottie. You know, of course you know, we joked about a lot of those things. It's just nice to actually be on the same team," said Newsome.

"Me and Scottie were teammates in the D-League for a while, so it was also nice to re-establish that relationship with him. And Japeth, I've known Japeth 'cause of Ateneo as well, as well as Kai,"

At the end of it all, Newsome was able to reflect on the composition of the team and believed that it had the potential to be great.

While it is far from certain that this will be the main group who'll compete for the country in the World Cup, the Meralco guard said that there was much to look forward to.

"So this team has a lot of chemistry, and like I said, as long as everyone stays healthy, and we can keep this core together, I think we're capable of doing big things," he said.

"'Cause the chemistry is definitely there, I think the athleticism is there. You can see we're very athletic, and we have a lot of potential," he added.

Gilas plays in the next window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers in November.