Photo credit: FIBA Asia
The Chot Reyes-mentored Gilas Pilipinas secured back-to-back victories in their preparations for the upcoming 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup by defeating the Ukraine men's national under-20 team, 84-74 in their second tuneup game on Sunday, July 2, at the Zalgiris Arena in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Following their 70-61 victory yesterday against the young hoopers of Ukraine and defeats against Estonia and Finland, the Gilas Pilipinas team now has a 2-2 record in their last four tune-up games.
As per onesports, Chot Reyes said: "We’re still a long ways off. We are not programmed to be at the top level at this point. This is still part of the learning process, getting our feet under us".
"When we started, these guys were coming off injuries. They were nowhere near competitive shape, that’s the most fundamental of all fundamentals, stamina, conditioning. Everything that we’re doing here, all the extra work, the loading, the lifting, conditioning stuff that we’re doing [are] precisely to get them to that level. Overall, I think the four games we’ve played have delivered what we expected. For us to learn a lot about each other, get us into competitive shape while playing against quality competition.” coach Chot Reyes told One Sports' Carlo Pamintuan.
Justin Brownlee had a game-high 21 points for Gilas, shooting 8-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-7 from beyond the arc. He also contributed 8 rebounds and 1 assist in 27 minutes of play. CJ Perez had a solid performance, scoring 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and recorded 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.
June Mar Fajardo contributed 9 points (4/5fg, 1/1ft), 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a block while Dwight Ramos added 9 points, 1 assist, 2 steals and a block. Rhenz Abando finished with 7 points (2/5fg, 3/4ft) in 13 minutes.
Gilas shot 28-of-52 from the field, including 5-of-15 shooting from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Ukraine had 24 out of 60 field goals and made 9 out of 25 attempts from three-point range. Gilas went 23 out of 32 from the free-throw line, while Ukraine made 17 out of 23 free throws. Ukraine committed 21 turnovers, while Gilas had 17 turnovers. Ukraine outrebounded PHL, 33-31 and also had more assists with 21 compared to Gilas' 15.
Longtime Gilas mentor Chot Reyes disclosed that Gilas intends to engage in at least four games as part of their training camp in Lithuania.
The Scores:
PHILIPPINES 84 - Brownlee 21, Perez 14, Ramos 9, Fajardo 9, Abando 7, Aguilar 5, Malonzo 4, K Ravena 4, T Ravena 4, Erram 4, Newsome 3, Thompson (DNP-back), Edu (DNP).
UKRAINE 74 - Kobzisty 15, Bublyk 14, Bryniuk 10, Safonov 10, Kabanov 9, Koshevatsky 9, Shymanskyi 4, Zaytsev 3, Dzuba 0, Batalsky 0, Bezyma 0, Semerijch 0, Ivanov (DNP), Bednostin (DNP).
Quarters: 20-20, 45-42, 69-60, 84-74. [VIDEO] | [STATS]
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