Gilas Pilipinas Men’s 3×3 team wasted little time making its presence felt at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, winning twice Monday and putting itself within touching distance of the quarterfinals.
Playing under the tournament’s under-23 restriction, Gilas beat highly ranked Mongolia, 19-12, before brushing aside Sri Lanka, 21-12, in Group A. The format rewards the group winner with a direct quarterfinal ticket, while the second- and third-placers must survive another round to reach the last eight.
In 3×3, where possessions are precious and there is nowhere to hide, two wins can do plenty of talking.
Against Mongolia, former University of Santo Tomas standout Nic Cabañero led the charge with seven points and five rebounds, accounting for five of Gilas’ 17 boards. De La Salle University’s Manuel Pablo grabbed seven rebounds and added three points, while UST’s Koji Buenaflor contributed six points and five rebounds. La Salle’s other representative, Dungo, added three points and three rebounds.
Cabañero again led the scoring against Sri Lanka with eight points, Pablo and Buenaflor contributed six points each, and Dungo added one.
The numbers suggest a team sharing the workload rather than waiting for a single player to rescue the possession.
Gilas is grouped with Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka and is scheduled to face Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
But the standings have already made that final group game considerably less dramatic. Kazakhstan lost to Mongolia on Monday, leaving Gilas in a favorable position to secure one of the four direct quarterfinal berths.
Still, there is a difference between being virtually through and actually through.
For a young team in a fast, unforgiving format, Gilas has earned the luxury of making Wednesday about finishing the job rather than starting one.
