GUAM travelled to the Philippines for the FIBA World Cup Asian qualifiers with added ammunition.
The visitors added 6-foot-7 power forward Ben Borja II to their 12-man roster in its rematch with the home team on Monday at the Blue Eagle gym.
READ Gilas stays with same 12-man lineup vs Guam
The 27-year-old product of California State University Maritime Academy takes the place of Kirston Guzman in the 7:30 p.m. match.
A member of the Guam national team since 2018, Borja has averaged 7.3 points and 4.0 rebounds in FIBA-sanctioned meets.
Coach EJ Calvo however, will continue to miss the services of top scoring option Earnest Ross Jr, who averaged 17.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists for Guam.
Borja will now join Jonathan Galloway, Jericho Cruz, Mark Johnson, Isaiah Africano, Tomas Calvo, Joe Bias, Daren Hechanova, Takumi Simon, DJ Osborn, Matt Fegurgur, and Tai Wesley in the Guam 12.
Both Borja and Ross played major roles in Guam winning its first ever game in the last FIBA Asia Cup at the expense of Syria, 82-73
But the two were not around when Gilas whipped the home team last Friday, 87-46, to open the first window of the qualifiers.
“We knew they were a little bit short handed. But still that didn’t stop us from having a lot of trepidation coming here and play,” said Gilas coach afterwards.
Meanwhile, Calvo and big man Jonathan Galloway both admitted rebounding and a slack offense in the second half are the two major issues Guam has to address if it would return the compliment to Gilas at home.
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