GILAS Pilipinas rode on strong all-around games by Dwight Ramos and Kiefer Ravena to roll back Iran-B, 63-48, and finish 3-1 in the 2023 Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament at Xiaoqing Sport Center in Guangdong, China.

Ramos finished with a double-double of 17 points and 14 rebounds, while Ravena had nine points, six rebounds and six assists to lead charge of the Filipinos in the short, three-team tournament serving as part of their preparations for the FIBA World Cup 2023 scheduled later this month.

Jamie Malonzo contributed double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds, while AJ Edu had eight points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks for the Filipinos, who also won over Iran, 76-65, last Thursday.

The 29-year-old Ravena, who now plays for Shiga in the Japanese B-League, took matters into his own hands by orchestrating the plays in the fourth quarter.

With the score tied at 46-all, Ravena found a wide-open Roger Pogoy at the corner for a three-point shot and Malonzo completed a breakway slam dunk to make it 51-46.

The Filipinos were never theatened from there as Ramos, Ravena and Ray Parks went on another scoring run to win pulling away.

Ravena nailed another back-breaking triple to make it 54-47 with three minutes left, before’setting up Parks’ long two-pointer in the next play.

Another well-timed pass by Ravena to Ramos sealed the win.

Amir Yazarlou topscored for the Jones Cup-bound Iran B with nine points.

Amir Azari added 10 rebounds with five points.

Overall, it was a successful stint for the Filipinos, who went 1-1 against Senegal, losing 72-64 last Friday before winning, 75-63.

Up next for the Chot Reyes-mentored Gilas team are exhibition matches against Mexico and Montenegro 8n Manila.

NBA star Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz, who arrived in the country early Tuesday, is expected to join Gilas in the friendlies.

“It’s like a dress rehearsal because no matter what we do in practice, no matter how hard we play, we cannot simulate the effort in an actual game of an actual team,” Reyes told Carlo Pamintuan of One Sports after the game.

..“We can’t simulate the unpredictability, the figuring out what kind of defensive scheme they’re going to run, the kind of offense they’re going to run, and then finding ways to stop it. That’s why playing games like these is very important for us,” added Reyes.

The scores:

Philippines (63) — Ramos 17, Malonzo 11, Ravena 9, Edu 8, Newsome 4, Fajardo 4, Oftana 3, Pogoy 3, Perez 2, Parks 2, Aguilar 0, Abando 0.
Iran (48)– Yazarlou 9, Dalirzahan 6, Kashani 6, Azari 5, Khosravi 5, Jafari 5, Hatamifar 4, Mokarian 3, Taberi 2, Sharifi 2, Alizadeh 1, Rahimian 0.
Quarterscores: 26-16, 31-30, 44-43, 63-48.