By: Aulyn Gwen Bergado
Rhenz Abando shining through the Philippine team. Photo courtesy of FIBA Philippines.
The 25-year-old cager, who is deemed as one of the crowd favorites has proved that he delivers once he is called.
The Anyang KGC import averaged 5.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in 13.5 minutes of playing time, with games against Dominican Republic, Angola, Italy, South Sudan and China.
Netizens, specifically Filipino basketball fans have been demanding the change in minutes for Abando’s playing time as he is always given limited minutes in their first four matches.
But the narrative changed in their 21-point beating of China as he lived up to his lofty billing as he was hailed as the second best performer for Gilas, annexing 14 points, five rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block in 24:19 minutes of action last night.
Few of the highlights that the 6’2” La Union native has given Gilas is his third quarter dramatic block over Italy’s 6' 7” Power Forward Giampaolo Ricci which drew a lot of cheers from the homeland crowd.
Gilas finished 24th out of 34 nations in the World Cup, enough to keep the hopes for Paris 2024 alive as they qualified for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.