Uichico rues Gilas’ bad shooting in tough outing vs Thailand

Gilas big man Troy Rosario tries to protect the ball against Thailand during the 2017 SEA Games basketball tournament. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

KUALA LUMPUR — Miserable shooting was the main reason Gilas Pilipinas struggled against Thailand Sunday night.

“If we made four more shots from the three-point line instead of six (Gilas shot 6-of-30), then it would have been a different score,” said Uichico, who emerged from the dugout where he was overheard dressing down the team.

Gilas shot 6-of-30 from the downtown.

“Four more shots and we are shooting 30 percent, that’s still not good but we could have won the game by a big margin,” Uichico told reporters, who stayed out until before midnight at MABA Stadium.

Uichico has valid reason to be upset.

He has a first-rate team with first-rate players like Kiefer Ravena, Bobby Ray Parks Jr., Mike Tolomia, Troy Rosario and Fil-German Christian Standhardinger.

They are not the best version of the Gilas program, but the country has employed collegiate players and still won the SEA Games gold through the years.

“I told them to just make the basket, that’s all,” said Uichico, referring to the tense moments of the game when Thailand was trading leads down the stretch.

He said the Philippines wasn’t able to practice at the 5,000-seater stadium whose administrators had to send away hundreds of people who would like to watch the games live.

“But this is the toughest team out there, and we hope to face them again because that means we are in the next round,” Uichico said.

Gilas won’t have a game Monday but will practice based on its performance Sunday night.