Gilas Pilipinas wins over Ukraine U-20 in tuneup, but Chot Reyes says it was 'worst' game in recent friendlies

The Philippine national men's basketball team won against the Ukraine Under-20 team, 70-61, on Saturday in Lithuania, but head coach Chot Reyes described the game as Gilas Pilipinas' worst, despite it being their first victory in a series of friendlies in Europe.

For Reyes, the team still had defensive lapses they needed to work on.

"To be very honest, I was very pleased with how quickly we picked up the new things that we worked on yesterday in practice. But to be very honest, although we won this game, I still think there were a lot of defensive lapses," Reyes said in an interview on the national team's Facebook page.

"If I were to rate it, I think this is the worst game since the start. I know this is the game that we won but I thought there was a lot more to be desired."

Reyes also admitted that missing the services of Scottie Thompson and Chris Newsome affected their game.

"Still, in our overall journey in the process, we focused on cutting down our turnovers, not giving up offensive rebounds, and being able to execute the defense we worked on yesterday. I think we were able to do that."

Prior to the game against Ukraine, the national team lost to Estonia and Finland.

The Philippines will host the FIBA World Cup, along with Japan and Indonesia, on August 25 to September 10.

Gilas will play Angola, Dominican Republic, and Italy in the group stage of the tournament.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News