Sitting on the steps at the baseline section of the PhilSports Arena late Friday night, Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes put behind him the just-ended tune-up game against Ivory Coast and turned his thoughts on the more challenging task at hand on Sunday. 

“Oh, Montenegro, that’s a very different team, mas malakas yan, European style, [Nikola] Vucevic is there, a bonafide NBA starter for his team, and some others,” Reyes said moments after Gilas Pilipinas, on the strength of its second half defense, overpowered the FIBA World Cup African Qualifier even with NBA star Jordan Clarkson on the bench in the last 16 minutes of the cruising 85-62 victory. 

“Dyan, mapapalaban talaga tayo. But we’ll see. We’re looking to play better in the Montenegro game than we did today,” Reyes said. 

The August 20 game is at 8 p.m. also at PhilSports Arena in Pasig City. Montenegro, which clinched a World Cup berth on the last game day of the European Qualifiers in November last year, is ranked No. 18 in the world and is powered by Vucevic, a 6-foot-9 forward from the Chicago Bulls, 6-foot-7 Bojan Dubljevic, and shooters Vladimir Mihailovic and Dino Radoncic. 

Gilas Pilipinas will wrap up its tune-up matches on Monday against world No. 31 Mexico at the same time and venue. 

The closed-door match with the Ivorians, who have defending champion Spain, Iran, and Brazil as company in Group G in Jakarta, Indonesia, was the first of three scheduled friendlies for the Philippine team before its inaugural game against the Dominican Republic on August 25 at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan. 

Clarkson, a go-to-guy for the Utah Jazz, and six-time PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo, led five Gilas Pilipinas players in double figures against Ivory Coast, also known as Cote d’Ivoire. 

Both had 13 points, while AJ Edu added 12 with seven rebounds, Scottie Thompson 11, and 7-foot-3 NBA hopeful Kai Sotto 10 points on 5 of 6 shooting, as Gilas gathered strength heading to the Basketball World Cup. 

Clarkson playing without relief in the fast and furious first half was by design, Reyes bared. 

“Pinag-usapan talaga namin yon, he’ll play the whole first half kasi kailangan nyang makuha yung kanyang game wind. And then he starts sa third, and if kailangan siya sa fourth, babalik siya. E di na kinailangan so okay na yon, pahinga, prepare na lang for the next game.” 

A breakthrough moment in the third quarter opened for Gilas as it sped to several double digit leads before taking a 60-53 edge going to the final 10 minutes. 

Clarkson, who played point guard most of the time, committed four turnovers, most of them blinding passes that recipients couldn’t handle, indicating a need for more familiarity with each other. 

“There were still some kinks offensively, the turnovers, kasi first time naglaro sila ng kumpleto di ba?” said Reyes. 

“We have to keep working on that. But I was very pleased with the defense, especially sa second half. Trinabaho talaga namin yon sa Europe and sa China.” 

Gilas gave up possession 18 times, two more than the Ivorians. But the Nationals had five more assists (19), five by Scottie Thompson, who appeared fully recovered from a hand fracture, and three more blocked shots. 

It was the first time Clarkson played with Gilas in a tune-up game, as with Sotto, who came off the bench with 47 seconds left in the first quarter, which Gilas took 27-24. 

Sotto had four points in 8:20 minutes, including a dunk. Fajardo, who formed a Twin Tower alignment with Sotto late in the first quarter, had 7, and Edu, 6 points. 

Reyes sees a brighter prospect for Gilas with Sotto in the lineup. 

“Well, makikita mo na di pa siya 100 percent, pero he really makes a difference,” Reyes said. “Nakakatulong talaga siya. He adds much needed depth to the team. Hopefully his back holds up. We have two more games before opening night.” 

Kiefer Ravena had his moment orchestrating play in the second quarter, giving Clarkson some respite to create offense and play off-guard. 

Dejan Prokic, Ivory Coast’s Slovenian head coach, had good words for Gilas’ chances in its coming clash with Angola, also from FIBA Africas. 

“Philippine is a very good team, Clarkson is an exceptional player,” Prokic said. “They have a very good coach, they used what they have, they’re quite bigger than us and today they used it a lot. So I think Angola should not be a question.” 

Aggressive in defense and remarkable in their ball movement that found open men, Ivory Coast, the first African team to qualify in this year’s World Cup, took the initiative early and kept the game close the rest of the first 20 minutes. 

Behind fleet-footed guard Bazoumana Kone, who had nine points in the first half, the Ivorians, who narrowly beat Angola during the FIBA Africa Qualifiers, gave the Nationals a preview of what to expect against the Angolans in the Group Phase of the preliminaries a week from now at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. 

Gilas coach Chot Reyes used a 13-man lineup against Ivory Coast, sitting Ray Parks, Calvin Oftana and Thirdy Ravena, who are expected to suit up for Gilas’ remaining friendlies against Montenegro on August 20 and Mexico on August 21. 

Gilas came up with different formations and looks, going big in one instance and employing small-ball offense on other occasions. The Nationals kept up the defensive pressure and adjusted beautifully whenever the Ivorians would come up with counteroffensives. 

Reyes will prune down the 16-man lineup after the tune-up matches to come up with the Final 12 for their initial foray into the World Cup: the all-important Group Phase games against the Dominican Republic on August 25, Angola on August 27 and Italy on August 29, the last two at the Big Dome. 

Dwight Ramos added 7 points for Gilas, Japeth Aguilar 6, Rhenz Abando 5, RR Pogoy 4, CJ Perez 3 and Ravena 1.