GILAS Pilipinas looked good in its debut in the Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament on Thursday night, beating an Iran team comfortably, 76-65, while playing without a naturalized player and its best big man Kai Sotto.
Dwight Ramos and Jamie Malonzo set the tone early for Gilas while new boys AJ Edu, Calvin Oftana, and Rhenz Abando made their presence felt in one of the more impressive performances of the national team in its buildup for the Fiba World Cup.
READ: Can Gilas be competitive at World Cup without Sotto?
In between, veteran June Mar Fajardo, RR Pogoy, and CJ Perez held the team together in a game that Gilas could have won more lopsidedly if not for the numerous turnovers it made in the course of the game.
Still the win came like a whiff of fresh air for a team that had been buffeted by controversy back home and left for Guangdong, China without any of its three naturalized players in Jordan Clarkson, Justin Brownlee, and Ange Kouame.
Yet to join the team is Sotto, who didn't join the China trip amid contentious negotiations between his camp and the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
The impact of Sotto's absence, however, was softened by fellow youngster Edu, who had nine points, nine rebounds, and a block in a splendid off-the-bench performance he punctuated with a two-handed dunk in the final minutes.

Edu joined Gilas in its European training camp, but didn't see action.
Just as impressive were Abando, who came off the bench to contribute eight points, two rebounds, and an assist, and Oftana, who finished with 10 points.
Malonzo led the way for Gilas with 11 points and six rebounds, while Ramos added 10, eight of them coming in the first six minutes.
The Philippines will try to go for back-to-back wins on Friday when it tangles with Senegal, an 85-75 winner over Iran during the tournament opener on Wednesday night.
The scores
Philippines (76) – Malonzo 11, Ramos 10, Oftana 10, Edu 9, Pogoy 8, Abando 8, Perez 7, Fajardo 4, Aguilar 4, Newsome 2, Parks 2, K. Ravena 1, T. Ravena 0.
Iran (65) – Yazarlou 8, Azari 7, Taheri 7, Sharifi 7, Yazarlou 6, Rahimian 6, Dalirzahan 6, Mokarian 5, Alizadeh 4, Kashani 4, Khosravi 3, Far 2, Jafari 0, Arabzadeh 0.
Quarterscores: 21-23; 40-34; 59-46; 76-65.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph