Gilas-PH trips young Lithuania U-20 five

GILAS-Pilipinas conquered a young but towering Lithuania’s national Under-20 squad on Tuesday, 83-75, using a balanced offensive attack at Nida Gym in Neringa City.

Speedy point guard Jason Castro, the PBA’s Best Player of the Philippine Cup, scattered 14 points and Marcus Douthit contributed 12 as the Filipinos bounced back from their only loss in the Lithuanian buildup.

“Beat d tall, tough U-20 NT, 83-75. Still a lot of TOs, still shot poorly from 3, but saw a lot of +s,” Reyes posted on his Twitter account @coachot.

The Filipinos have two more games left before calling it a training camp—a return match against the Under-20 squad on Thursday and a rematch against LSU-Baltai the following night.

Gilas-Pilipinas, which is priming up for the Fiba-Asia World Championship qualifying tournament in August in Manila, is now 3-1 against Lithuanian squads, with its only setback coming at the hands of LSU-Baltai, 89-86, on Sunday.

Reyes and his boys flew to the former Soviet republic last June 1 for a two-week training stint that would bond his players together.

The Filipinos’ first two victories came at the expense of Klaipedos Neptunas, 81-76, and Bristono Jazz Diremta, 74-63.

Several players scored seven points for Gilas-Pilipinas, which is bracketed in Group A together with Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Chinese-Taipei in the Fiba-Asia joust. Musong R. Castillo