CHRIS Newsome and several other players showed up at Gilas Pilipinas practice on Monday night at the Meralco gym despite a busy weekend that also saw the opening of the UAAP Season 85.
Newsome appeared but sat on the sidelines in Gilas’ once-a-week training in preparation for the November window of the Fiba Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers due to a calf injury he sustained during Meralco’s first game in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup.
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Ginebra players Justin Brownlee, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, and Jamie Malonzo also showed up after the Gin Kings defeated Meralco, 99-91, in their PBA Commissioner’s Cup outing.
UAAP cagers Carl Tamayo of University of the Philippines, Kevin Quiambao of La Salle, and Ateneo’s Ange Kouame also attended the one-hour practice after playing for their respective schools over the weekend.
“We told the players, some of them had games last night (Sunday). Everyone has also practiced today (Monday), so we’re not gonna overextend them,” said Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes on Monday night after practice. “We have specific things that we want to achieve. We wanted to achieve a couple of things done and they went hard right away. These guys are in shape, but more importantly get the opportunity of playing together.”
Coach Chot Reyes says Gilas action will be monitored for those playing in their mother leagues.
Tamayo actually came straight from his practice with University of the Philippines, but showed his commitment to Gilas even as he arrived 25 minutes late to catch up with the training.
“I like the energy of the young players, but even more impressive was the energy of the PBA players, especially the Ginebra team, which just played a hard game on Sunday,” he added.
In total, 16 players attended the practice including San Miguel’s June Mar Fajardo and CJ Perez, TNT cagers Roger Pogoy, Poy Erram, and Calvin Oftana, NorthPort’s Arvin Tolentino, William Navarro and LeBron Lopez.
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