Gilas Pilipinas loses

THE GILAS Pilipinas suffered its first loss in its New Zealand training camp as the Nationals dropped a close 85-86 decision to the National Basketball League select squad yesterday.

The loss dropped the Gilas’ record to 2-1 (win-loss) after starting the six-game exhibition tour with two straight wins over the Hawke’s Bay Hawks.

However, the combined efforts of the NBL selection proved to be too much to handle, especially with leading scorer BJ Johnson and American imports Antonie Tisby, Marcel Jones and Kareem Johnson.

Head coach Chot Reyes tweeted that while naturalized player Marcus Douthit struggled to find his game, Japeth Aguilar and Cebuano big man Junemar Fajardo more than held their own in the game.    /Correspondent Jonas Panerio