Gilas Diaries: Nationals suffer first loss in Lithuania

MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas’ string of great escapes came to an end when the hot shooting LSU-Baltai dealt the Nationals an 89-86 loss Sunday night in Svyturio Arena in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Before the game, Gilas assistant coach Josh Reyes described LSU-Baltai as “not as tall as the last two teams but said to be a team of shooters.”

And LSU-Baltai did just like that torching the Nationals with 15 triples, four more than their conversions inside the arc.  

Vidmantas Sragauskis paced the Lithuanians with 23 points and five boards. The 6-7 forward went 5-for-12 from downtown. Their other 6-7 forward Arunas Vasiliaskaus added 17 points and eight rebounds while Sarunas Vingelis, a 6-3 shooting guard, chipped in 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting for LSU-Baltai, which wound up 11th on a 5-15- win-loss card in the Lithuanian league (LKL) last season. 

The Lithuanians asserted their shooting might early on as they led Gilas by seven, 28-21, in the opening quarter.  The Nationals stormed back limiting LSU-Baltai to just 13 in the second period while exploding for 28 points as they sat on a 49-41 cushion at the break.

In the second half, the Lithuanians outscored the Filipinos, 48-37, to escape with the victory.    

Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes pondered on his Twitter account (@coachot) on how the team will react from this loss.

“Just like that week 1 is done. 9 practices, 3 games. Now the tediousness, homesickness and fatigue kicking in,” Reyes said. “How do we react?”

It gets tougher from here as Gilas will play Lithuania's Under-20 national team, the defending FIBA Euro U-20 champions, twice-in-a-row before getting another crack at LSU-Baltai in the last of their six-game schedule in the training camp. 

Before the loss, Gilas continued to bond as one special team winning their first two games – 74-63 over Birstono Jazz Direnta and 81-76 against Klaipedos-Neptunas.

In between practices and games, the Nationals undergo team-building sessions to work on the team’s chemistry as part of their continuing build up for the FIBA-Asia Championship to be held here in Manila from Aug. 1-11. 

read also: Gilas Diaries: Lithuania camp bonds Gilas together / Gilas Diaries: Lithuania camp begins