Gilas names final 12 for Fiba qualifiers; Abarrientos, Arana cut

SCHEDULE: Gilas Pilipinas at Fiba Asian Qualifiers Window 4

FILE–Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone and Kai Sotto during the Fiba Asia Cup 2025 qualifiers game. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–RJ Abarrientos and Justin Arana were cut from the 12-man roster of Gilas Pilipinas for the fourth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers, which starts with Friday’s home game against Jordan.

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas officially released coach Tim Cone’s selection for the second round opener late Thursday, with Kai Sotto and fellow returnees Scottie Thompson and CJ Perez headlining the roster.

READ: Gilas needs collective effort to replace Brownlee, Scottie says

Also in the lineup are the usual suspects in Dwight Ramos, Kevin Quiambao, Carl Tamayo, AJ Edu, Juan Gomez de Liano, Chris Newsome, Troy Rosario, Justine Baltazar and June Mar Fajardo, who could retire from Gilas after this window.

That left out Abarrientos and then Arana, who was the newest member to Cone’s shallow pool.

Abarrientos suited up for the Philippines during the third window road matches against New Zealand and Australia.

READ: Margin of error slim for Gilas Pilipinas, says Dwight Ramos

Gilas is aiming to win not only the match with Jordan, but also Sunday’s matchup against Iran in hopes of staying within reach of the top four spots in Group E.

The Philippines goes into the window tied for fifth and sixth with Syria at 2-4, and trailing Australia (6-0), Jordan (5-1), Iran (5-1) and New Zealand (4-2).

Justin Brownlee, however, is out this window, with Cone saying the naturalized player seems to feel that he’s “still not healthy enough to compete.”

But Gilas got a big boost with Sotto answering the call to suit up for the window after being out since his last national team duty in 2024.