MANILA – June Mar Fajardo and Greg Slaughter will banner Team Philippines when it plays host to Kazakhstan in the 2019 FIBA World Cup Qualifier on Friday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
For the first time the towering duo – Fajardo at 6-foot-11 and Slaughter at 7 feet – will play side by side wearing national colors at 7 o’clock.
Alongside them are 6-foot-9 Japeth Aguilar, 6-foot-8 John Paul Erram, 6-foot-6 Gabe Norwood, and 6-foot-5 Beau Belga, forming the tallest Team Philippines roster to date.
Rounding out the 12-man roster are Stanley Pringle – who will serve as naturalized player – LA Tenorio, Alex Cabagnot, Marcio Lassiter, Earl Scottie Thompson, and Matthew Wright.
Despite facing and winning against Kazakshtan in the 2018 Asian Games, head coach Yeng Guiao said they will still not rest on their laurels. He described their opponent as “physical and hardworking.”
“We are positive naman that we can play a good game against Kazakhstan despite us losing three of our four tune-up matches,” said Guiao. “But we have to be wary of this team kasi they are more prepared compared noong sa Asian Games.”
“This will be a harder game. I don’t know if we can beat them by 37 points again this time,” Guiao added. “This team has height. They’re very rugged and they have really good shooters. They just had a bad night when we played them in the Asian Games.”
Team Philippines, currently on third place in Group F with a 5-3 win-loss slate, will need to maintain or improve its standings further to qualify to the World Cup next year./PN
