A day after dismantling the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, SMART Gilas Pilipinas faced a gutsy challenge by NLEX Road Warriors but still came out victorious, 95-87, in another tune-up on Saturday morning at the Meralco Gym.
The Nationals, who have now won two of their three exhibitions, missed the services of Jayson Castro (back spasm) and Calvin Abueva. The Alaska Aces star had to go home minutes prior to the friendly due to flu-like symptoms.
The Road Warriors also fielded a depleted line-up, as they played without JR Quiñahan, Larry Fonacier, Jansen Rios, Cyrus Baguio, Rabeh Al-Hussaini, and Gilas pool members Kiefer Ravena and Kevin Alas.
After engaging in a nip-and-tuck affair in the third canto that saw six lead changes, SMART Gilas gained leverage in the fourth quarter and erected an 82-70 lead after back-to-back long jumpers by Carl Cruz with 5:57 remaining.
The pro ball club then threatened the flag-bearers moments later. A 17-9 scoring run — capped by Kenneth Ighalo’s corner triple — helped the Road Warriors cut the deficit to just two possessions, 91-87, with 1:37 on the clock.
But the Nationals quickly reacted and doused the fiery NLEX side. A pair of freebies, plus Roger Pogoy’s jumper from the corner with 44 seconds left to play, were all SMART Gilas needed to walk away with the victory.
“We’re not really worried at the score because we’re doing things that we’re looking at. Pero I wasn’t happy with the [kind of] defense [that] we played today,” rued coach Chot Reyes. “We have to work on that some more.”
This will be SMART Gilas’ last tune-up for the FIBA World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers, which will raise its curtains on November 24, where the Philippines will face Japan at the Komazawa Gymnasium in Tokyo.
Quarterscores: 28-18, 47-42, 69-66, 95-87.
