Chot set to reveal Gilas 12

MANILA, Philippines — Gilas left training camp at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba yesterday, will take the day off to be with family today then regroup for morning practice tomorrow before taking an evening flight to Cambodia. Coach Chot Reyes said he won’t decide the 12-man roster for the SEA Games until before the managers’ meeting on Sunday. The plan is to bring the 15-man pool that attended the Inspire camp to Cambodia. Reyes said unlike in the FIBA qualifying windows where lineups can change the day before each game, once a roster is submitted at the managers’ meeting, it’s final and no substitute is allowed even if a player is injured during the competition.

Team manager Butch Antonio said the Inspire camp brought the players closer together. The camp opened last Sunday. “Training went very well,” said Antonio. “We did two a day practices and weights. Justin (Brownlee) got cut in the lip during a practice at Meralco (before the Inspire camp) but he’s OK now. Of course, technical stuff was put in place and team chemistry was worked on.” Brownlee will lead Gilas in Cambodia as a naturalized player.

Reyes will choose the final 12 from the pool of 15, made up of Brownlee, Christian Standhardinger, Jeremiah Gray, CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, Calvin Oftana, Chris Newsome, Aaron Black, Arvin Tolentino, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Mason Amos, Jerom Lastimosa and Michael and Ben Phillips. None of the players saw action in the SEA Games where Indonesia dethroned the Philippines for the gold last year. But Ross, Lassiter, Standhardinger, Perez and Newsome were on the 2019 squad that took the championship. Standhardinger was also on the 2017 team that won it all.

Aside from defending champion Indonesia, Gilas has to contend with Thailand. It’s likely Gilas will face either Indonesia or Thailand in the knockout crossover semifinals. Thailand has enlisted 6-8 Thai-German Martin Bruenig, the highest scoring two-year player in University of Montana history. His teammates include 6-9 Chanathip Jakrawan, 6-5 Tyler Lamb of UCLA and Long Beach State, 6-6 Moses (Jakongnee) Morgan of DePaul and California State Fullerton, 5-11 Freddie Jones Goldstein Lish of the University of South Alabama, 6-2 Tra Holder of Arizona State and 5-11 Nattakorn Muangboon (who averaged 10.5 points and shot 54.5 percent from beyond the arc in Hanoi). Thai coach is Spaniard Edu Torres who led Hong Kong to the ABL title in 2017.