HEAD Coach Chot Reyes and his staff are tending to 15 players in a closed-door training camp in a facility in Laguna with one goal: put together the best brew that could win that men’s basketball gold medal at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games.
“There’s only one goal in the SEA Games—bring home the gold, period,” Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) executive director spoke to BusinessMirror on Monday.
“There’s no option B, no plan B and there’s no second place in the SEA Games,” the former Philippine Basketball Association commissioner stressed.
The Philippines lost the gold medal to Indonesia in Hanoi last year, the third time when what is considered as the “most important gold medal” was lost.
“There are no excuses. I believe that we’re going to win the title, that’s what every Filipino is expecting ,” Sonny Barrios said. “It’s a must, even we win by one point as long as we win the gold.”
Behind closed doors at the Inspire Sports Academy facility in Calamba are naturalized player Justin Brownlee, Chris Ross, Marcio Lassiter, Christian Standhardinger, Arvin Tolentino, Jeremiah Gray, CJ Perez, Calvin Oftana, Aaron Black, Chris Newsome, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, Mason Amos, Jerom Lastimosa and brothers Michael and Ben Philips.
“The pool went down to 15—from 28—due to different reasons, but the marching to win the gold stays,” Barrios said. “Coach Chot [Reyes] and team manager Butch [Antonio] are very serious in this campaign.”
The team flies to Phnom Penh on May 6 and will have two full days of training before facing Malaysia on May 9 in Group A action at the Morodok Techno National Stadium Elephant Hall 2.
Gilas Pilipinas then takes on host Cambodia on May 11 and Singapore on May 13.
Defending champion Indonesia—handled by former Gilas coach Rajko Toroman—is in Group B with Vietnam, Thailand and Laos.