Matthew Wright didn’t disappoint in his first tour of duty as a member of the Philippine national men’s basketball team.
The Phoenix Fuelmasters sharpshooter lived up to his billing, emerging as the deadliest sniper for Gilas Pilipinas during the SEABA Championship.
Wright, who averaged 12 points a game, topped the tournament in three-point field goal percentage at 54.5 percent.
Due to his performance, expect Wright to drill more triples for Gilas Pilipinas in future competitions, just like what his predecessors did in the past.
“I’m here to replace guys like Jeff Chan, Gary David and Marcio Lassiter. I have some big shoes to fill. As one of the designated shooters on the team, I have to shoot with confidence at a high percentage,” he said. “I‘m not gonna get the same amount of shots with Phoenix. The shots I get, I have to knock them down.”
Wright credited the team’s system for helping him pull off a solid SEABA showing.
“We have a vision, we have a job to do and we did it. We did it the right way. We worked hard. We didn’t just win because of talent and size. Everyone of us played. We played together, we played hard. We didn’t just win on pure talent. We also tried to work on small things,” Wright said.
As Gilas Pilipinas braces for tougher outings in the FIBA Asia Cup and the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, Wright said the team is ready for the challenge.
“As far as I know, we have a couple of home and away games in November and February. We’ll be traveling to places like Taipei, Japan and Australia in the next couple of months,” Wright said. “I’m not gonna say this one (SEABA) is a cake walk, but the competition was not as high level as we’re gonna be facing. We know it’s gonna be harder. We’re up to the task.”
