Castro hurt 10 days before Fiba WC war

MANILA, Philippines - Gilas Pilipinas remained on a slump 10 days before the start of the 2014 FIBA World Cup, absorbing their fourth straight loss in tune-up matches – a 66-75 drubbing from the Basque Country national team in San Sebastian, Spain Tuesday night (early yesterday morning in Manila).

Worse, the match ended with combo guard Jayson Castro limping with an ankle injury.

The Talk n Text stalwart has been scheduled for an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) test to see the extent of the injury.

Gilas Pilipinas has named its Final 12 for the World Cup and the Asian Games with Castro included in both squads. Team Phl, or any other team, can make a last-minute replacement but will need to pay a hefty penalty fee.

Filipino players eligible to take over in a worst case for Castro are Jared Dillinger, Beau Belga and Jay Washington.

There were no other details on Gilas’ loss to Euskadi-Basque except Andray Blatche putting in 19 points and seven rebounds, Marc Pingris contributing 10 markers and nine boards, and Jimmy Alapag and Gabe Norwood adding nine and seven points.

 Coach Pablo Laso and his team had had a losing record in friendly matches going to their game against Gilas.

Last year, Euskadi was swept in a three-game series by Tunisia. In 2012, it dropped two games to Senegal and, in the previous year, was demolished by Argentina, 92-28.

The Basque Country team is not affiliated with FIBA, and is thus just playing friendly matches with FIBA teams.

At press time, Gilas coach Chot Reyes has yet to post any thought on the game on his Twitter account.

“10 days… can’t sleep,” he said on his latest post.

Eight hours earlier, he tweeted: “11 Days in Aug 2013 were special. Now in another 11 Days this August, we will be facing d biggest battle of our lives #LabanPilipinasPUSO!”

They play four more tune-up matches before plunging into action in the world meet versus Croatia on Aug. 30.

Gilas Pilipinas goes up against Angola also in San Sebastian on Aug. 21, Mexico in Vitoria on Aug. 23, Dominican Republic in Guadalajara on Aug. 24 and Egypt also in Guadalajara on Aug. 25.

The Filipinos have lost four matches after winning two tune-ups in Miami and one in Vitoria.