Gilas Pilipinas Men did not go down without a fight against Lebanon on Wednesday evening in Jakarta, Indonesia despite falling behind by 21 points to start the final frame.
But Chot Reyes’ men found a way to storm back.
Fielding an unusual five of Poy Erram, Carl Tamayo, William Navarro, SJ Belangel, and Rhenz Abando, cutting Lebanon’s lead down to nine, 83-74, with less than five minutes left in the game.
And for Chot Reyes, his gamble somewhat paid off during that time.
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“I was really looking for a spark off the bench.
“We started off well with that starting unit but when Lebanon got a hang of defending that starting unit, they were stopping the things that we wanted to do,” recalled Reyes. “We thought if we get other guys on the floor, then they would be able to do a good job. With those fresh legs, we were able to chase more defensively.
“I think the most important thing, Poy Erram’s defensive presence is big for us. We could not play him a lot in the first half because of his three quick fouls. But I think that was the important factor there. Very pleased with Will Navarro’s defense as well. That is what I was looking for from that guy,” he continued.
But just as he thought the momentum had shifted on their side, Lebanon picked it up once more.
Six-foot-nine Jonathan Arledge and 6-foot-8 Hayk Gyokchyan were all over the plays, driving to the basket and knocking down threes that sucked the life out of Gilas.
Lebanon eventually took a 95-80 win with Arledge tallying 19 points on two triples with six rebounds while Gyokchyan got 19 as well on four treys with eight boards.
Facing bigs like Arledge and Gyokchyan is something that the likes of Tamayo, Kevin Quiambao, and Geo Chiu have to get used to, according to Reyes. Those types of bigs are a rarity in the local scene.
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“First of all, it’s not a question of not only our bigs defending those shooting bigs but our ability for all of our guys to pick out those shooters. It’s a learning experience for our bigs to be able to help inside of the penetration from the guards of Lebanon and still, at the same time, get out and defend their men from the outside,” he said.
“Like I said, continuous development and learning. What do we have? Our power forwards Carl Tamayo and Kevin Quiambao have played a total of one year in college. It’s a huge, huge experience for them. Geo Chiu isn’t even the starter of his collegiate team so you can imagine the learning he can get from this experience.
“Like I said, very pleased with their progress and their abilities to fight it out. Sure, the Lebanese players were very skilled but that’s the only way to learn,” he closed.
Up next for Gilas is India on Friday before facing the Tall Blacks on Sunday.
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