Gilas five in high spirits despite loss

Gilas Pilipinas wound up its preparations for the country’s return to the Fiba World Cup in close to four decades with yet another loss, but the Filipinos will still be in high spirits when they play Croatia in Group B action on Aug. 30 in Seville, Spain.

The Nationals dropped an 86-79 loss to the Dominican Republic yesterday in Guadalajara, but that won’t take the fight out as the Philippines plays in the global stage once again for the first time since 1978.

“We’re getting better,” assistant coach Josh Reyes said. “Finally, after just one month of preparation, the system and defense are starting to fall into place at the level we need it to be.”

“Hopefully, it would give us enough of a fighting chance,” Reyes concluded.

Gilas ended its buildup with a 4-6 record, with its only victory against a national side also seeing action in Spain coming against Egypt, 74-65, on Sunday when June Mar Fajardo stepped up and gave naturalized center Andray Blatche great back up.

The Philippines will be playing former world champion Argentina, Puerto Rico, Senegal and Greece after clashing with the Croatians, and they would need to win at least two games to have a mathematical chance of advancing.

There were also scary moments in the month-long build-up, with the injury to Jason Castro late last week turning out to be a false alarm.

Touted as the best point guard in Asia after gaining inclusion to the Mythical First Team of the Fiba-Asia Qualifying in Manila last year, Castro took a nasty fall against Euskadis and had to go through an MRI scan after officials feared an Achilles tear.

Blatche and Paul Lee were also given some respite in some games to enable minor injuries to heal.

The Philippines, against Dominican Republic, was in the game until the final minute only to lose steam in the clutch.