CHOT Reyes lauded the defense of Gilas Pilipinas against Senegal which allowed the team to hack out a 75-63 comeback win on Sunday night at the Heyuan WUS International Basketball Tournament in Guandong, China.
The national team trailed for three quarters, but kept the game close by holding the bigger Senegal side below 40 at halftime.
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Even though struggling to make their open shots, the Filipinos never let the Senegalese pull away by making several crucial stops.
“Even in the first half when we were down, we only gave up 39 points and we thought it was defense that kept us close when our offense was struggling,” said Reyes.
“That’s what defense does. It allows you to stay in the game. Hopefully, when you get hot, this is what happens.”
Eventually, Gilas got hot in the final quarter.
It opened the fourth with eight straight points behind Bobby Ray Parks to turn a six-point deficit to a 55-53 lead, before the rest of the team sustained the run and allowed Gilas to open a nine-point lead with four minutes to play.
The 37th-ranked Senegal threatened at 67-60, but back-to-back treys by AJ Edu and Kiefer Ravena inside the final 1:30 sealed the win that avenged its 72-64 loss to the same side on Friday night.
“In the fourth quarter, we finally hit some shots. We made some offensive adjustments, and we were able to get good looks,” said the Gilas coach. “But without our defense, that wouldn’t have happened.”
CJ Perez finished with 14 points, Edu added 13, while Dwight Ramos and June Mar Fajardo were the other Gilas players in double figures with 12 and 11, respectively.
The national team faces Iran anew on Monday night for the final game of the mini pocket tournament.
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