MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas can always count on Japeth Aguilar.

Though not part of the original team picked by Tim Cone, Aguilar will suit up for the Nationals in the first FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers window, where they will face Hong Kong and Chinese Taipei on February 22 and 25, respectively.

Cone tapped his Barangay Ginebra ward to reinforce the national team as big men June Mar Fajardo (calf) and AJ Edu (knee) sit out the pair of home-and-away games due to injuries.

“He is really godsent because we really lost a lot of size losing June Mar and AJ,” said Cone on Monday, February 19, in a press conference organized by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Aguilar, who represented the country in the last three editions of the FIBA World Cup, followed the squad in Hong Kong on Wednesday, February 21, a day before their opening game against the hosts at the Tsuen Wan Stadium.

He joined the Nationals even though his wife Cassandra recently gave birth to their daughter Jianina Michaelle last February 18.

“These are the things that happen in any basketball team, you have injuries, you have guys who have wives who deliver babies, you have these kinds of things that happen all the time,” said Cone.

“You just have to roll with the punches and continue to deal with this.”

Aguilar beefs up a frontcourt unit that includes young bigs Kai Sotto and Carl Tamayo.

“Japeth being able to back up Kai is going to be really big for us. Carl is our third-string center. So he might have to play out of position,” said Cone.

After the Hong Kong game, the Filipinos return home to host Chinese Taipei at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig on Sunday. – Rappler.com