Coming off a high after romping Brazil, the Philippine side quickly lost its energy after it absorbed a crushing 17-21 loss to 2017 Asian Cup champion Mongolia.
Though the hosts had a clear talent advantage over Mongolia, it was Mongolia’s familiarity with one another and the game itself that proved to be the difference.
Even with Mongolia down 8-3 early, Tsenguunbayar Gotov and Mongolia stuck to their game plan – to attack. It resulted in a total of eight fouls for the Philippines.
“We gave them two intentionals, an and-one, and the ball back twice I believe,” rued Stanley Pringle, who had four points in the game.
And when Mongolia had the lead, they did not relinquish it, immediately quelling every rally the Philippines put up.
Seeing how one of the top 3×3 teams in Asia play is something Pringle hopes they can learn from.
“It’s a learning experience for us. We’re gonna chop the film up and see where we can work on and try work harder on Monday,” added the 31-year-old combo guard.
But it’s not just this game that Pringle is relishing.
For the first time in his career, the San Diego, California-born cager is representing the country.
“I’m trying to soak everything in,” he beamed.
“It’s been great playing with Troy [Rosario], Christian [Standhardinger], and RR [Pogoy]. I’ve been playing against them in the PBA so I already know what they bring to the table and I just knew once we got together it was easy to come out and play hard with them,” Pringle furthered.
“As a team it was just clicking.”
Pringle is hoping that this experience will not end on Monday, as he and Gilas 3×3 fight for their tournament lives against Canada and Russia.
