Only 9 Gilas aspirants attend second session

MANILA, Philippines – From a perfect number in the previous week, attendance considerably dropped, for various reasons, in the second practice session of Gilas Pilipinas at the Meralco Gym in Pasig Monday night.

Junmar Fajardo and Marc Pingris attended a prior commitment to shoot an SMC commercial with popular host/comedian Vic Sotto. Ian Sangalang and Ranidel de Ocampo were absent due to injuries while Greg Slaughter, Japeth Aguilar, LA Tenorio, Paul Lee and Jeff Chan all came in street clothes.

Attendance of players in practice jersey was reduced to nine, including Talk n Text Fil-Am rookie Moala Tautuaa who was again tapped in as a backup naturalized player.

In full attendance was the Gilas coaching staff with the return of Alaska Milk coach Alex Compton.

“Serving Gilas is a tremendous honor and privilege for me,” Compton told The STAR.

“Coach Tab (Baldwin) is doing a fantastic job. And thinking about the combination of being able to both serve the country and learn from an incredible coach, I am grateful to be given such a wonderful opportunity,” Compton also said.

Tautuaa is also thankful to again be a part of Gilas training pool. He played the same role as backup to Andray Blatche in the previous Gilas team.

“It feels good. I like being here,” said Tautuaa, seeing action with the team in the Estonian invitational and in the Jones Cup where Gilas placed second to Iran.

“Mo is our fallback option. It’s like an insurance policy,” said Baldwin.

“It’s a big sacrifice that he makes for a team that he may never play for. I appreciate that very much,” Baldwin also said.

In light workouts, Tautuaa joined Gilas regulars Calvin Abueva, Troy Rosario, Matt Ganuelas-Rosser, Gabe Norwood, Terrence Romeo, Marcio Lassiter, Jayson Castro and Ryan Reyes.