Gilas-Pilipinas fails to impress in win over PBA Selection

If this game was to be the gauge, then the Gilas-Pilipinas national five will be in trouble when the Fiba-Asia Championship begins in less than a week.
Flat for most of the night, the Nationals hardly scraped past a Philippine Basketball Association Selection, 99-87 at the Mall of Asia Arena, in their first game since returning from a hectic training stint from Europe.
“I thought we were making progress, but the way we played tonight, I thought we took a step back,” coach Chot Reyes, obviously disappointed, told reporters who were similarly unimpressed at what they saw.
“I hope we choked just because we were too tight,” added the firebrand drillmaster, who took his wards to train in Lithuania for two weeks and to New Zealand to play six tough games. “I hope we were just jittery because this was the first time that they played in front of their countrymen.”
Reyes, who has never minced words in saying what he feels, pointed out to Jason Castro, Marc Pingris and former Jones Cup MVP LA Tenorio as those who really let him down.
He also singled out former PBA MVP Jimmy Alapag for bailing the team out.
“That’s the reason why I benched Jason (Castro) in the second half,” Reyes said. “Jayson, LA and Marc really, really played bad. We could have lost the game if not for Jimmy (Alapag). We’ve talked about being accountable for our performance. If you don’t perform, your name would be called out.”
The Nationals needed a huge fourth quarter to bail this one out and remain undefeated in local soil. In the All-Star Game in Davao, Gilas-Pilipinas was held to a draw by practically this same Selection, a gathering of the biggest names in the PBA that failed to make the national team.
It took a 27-4 run in the fourth quarter to take the fight out of the PBA Selection with Reyes getting the goods from Ranidel de Ocampo, Larry Fonacier, Gabe Norwood and Alapag.
June Mar Fajardo put in his contribution on the defensive end and off the boards, as Reyes found his performance gritty enough that he rested naturalized center Marcus Douthit in the entire fourth quarter.
De Ocampo led all Philippine Team shooters with 16 points with Gary David, Jeff Chan, Norwood and Douthit hitting at least 11 apiece.
The Nationals have a chance to redeem themselves and show that they stand a chance in th 16-nation Fiba-Asia joust as they play Kazakhstan at 7 p.m. tomorrow over at the Araneta Coliseum.
That will be their final tuneup with the Fiba-Asia, which is staking three slots to the World Championship in Madrid next year, to open on August 1 and the Philippines taking on Saudi Arabia.

“I hope things would be different on Friday,” Reyes said. “We screwed up tonight. The way we played, if we were up against Jordan or Chinese Taipei, we would have been down by 20 at the half.”