Chitchai Ananti has been the SEABA tournament’s top scorer. The shooting guard posted norms of 24.0 points on 37 percent shooting to go along with 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 31.5 minutes of game time.
Coming into their game, coach Chot Reyes challenged his wing defenders: stop the 26-year-old.
“We came to this ball game with the defensive focus of stopping number seventy-seven, because we knew that he was Thailand’s top-scorer, and that guy can flat out play,” the 53-year-old tactician shared.
Gilas’ plethora of wings took turns on Ananti with Roger Pogoy, Calvin Abueva, and Jiovani Jalalon having their chance to defend the Thai gunslinger.
“He scores in a lot of ways, so we challenged our defenders to lock him down,” Reyes furthered.
“I thought that was important to our defensive game plan, to shut down their best scorer, their best offensive player.”
The cager from Mono Vampire went just 0-for-3 from the field and played just 15 minutes.
And Ananti, who averaged 10.2 points in the Thailand Basketball Super League, praised the defensive plan and execution of the team.
“Their coach prepared the defensive plan well,” Ananti shared.
“I was set out on an island and didn’t get the ball. Now, I know what I need to improve in the future to get better and be able to get away from the defensive plans.”
