Gilas men’s 3x3 posts mixed results

Gilas Pilipinas endured plenty of challenges in winning two of three games after the first day of competitions in the men’s 3x3 basketball event of the 31st Southeast Asian Games.

Brandon Rosser, Reymar Caduyac, Jorey Napoles and Marvin Hayes posted contrasting wins over Cambodia and Thailand before falling short against Indonesia yesterday at the Thanh Tri District Sporting Hall in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The roster that gave Limitless the first conference championship of the PBA 3x3 last December overcame early jitters to dominate Cambodia, 19-7.

But Rosser, Caduyac, Napoles and Hayes had to rally from a five-point deficit before taking down Thailand, 21-18, to claim their second win.

Caduyac’s layup off a foul plus two free throws put Gilas in front for good at 15-14 after Thailand went up 12-7.

Their bid to stay unbeaten disappeared as Gilas couldn’t shake off Indonesia at the start before being forced to play catch up through the match.

The Gilas women’s team split its first two games after suffering a 21-18 loss to host Vietnam an hour earlier.

Afril Bernardino, Janine Pontejos, Clare Castro and Angel Surada rallied from an early deficit to take a 16-12, but Gilas couldn’t cool off Vietnam’s hot shooting from two-point range and suffered a stinging defeat.

Gilas was looking to bounce back against Thailand in a game being played at presstime.

Earlier, Gilas was in cruise control as they dominated the Cambodian side composed of Sima Suon, Jasmine Kong and siblings Sidtia and Tianna SidtikunPhe on their way to victory.

Rosser, Napoles, Hayes and Caduyac face Singapore, Malaysia and host Vietnam on Saturday.