Gilas Pilipinas may have started the FIBA World Cup qualifiers with a win, but if their performance against Japan is any indication, then this iteration of Gilas might be in big trouble.

In a case of taking half a step forward and several steps back, the nationals struggled to put away a young but game Japanese squad, ultimately needing the brilliance of Jayson Castro and timely baskets from Andray Blatche, Matthew Wright, and RR Pogoy to outlast their counterparts from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Gilas Pilipinas got the country’s pursuit of a World Cup berth off to a roaring, albeit rocky start, outlasting a hard-charging Japanese squad 77–71 before a packed Komazawa Olympic Park General Sports Ground Gymnasium in Tokyo.