Chot Reyes laments failing to treat record crowd with win
At A Glance
- It was a huge letdown to the once festive and lively night from the fans and head coach Chot Reyes felt some great sense of regret after failing to pull off what could have been a huge gift to the passionate Filipino fans.
Filipino fans once again displayed how crazy they are about basketball.

They came in droves at the Philippine Arena and shattered the previous 32,616 FIBA attendance record with 38,115 people coming out and supporting Gilas Pilipinas.
The fans were expecting a double celebration at the buzzer but, although treated to a thrilling game, came home a bit disappointed after Gilas’ brave stand fell short, 87-81, against the Dominican Republic.
It was a huge letdown to the once festive and lively night from the fans and head coach Chot Reyes felt some great sense of regret after failing to pull off what could have been a huge gift to the passionate Filipino fans.
“Such a letdown. If we could have pulled it out it could have been a great gift to the record number of people who came out,” said Reyes who couldn’t help but shake his head in disappointment after the game.
But Gilas did its part too. Jordan Clarkson delivered 28 points and, although marred by an error-prone night, highlighted by a huge offensive foul incursion that ended his night prematurely, still proved to be the Nationals’ cornerstone in this campaign.
Then there’s the gallant big men June Mar Fajardo and AJ Edu. Gilas was tantalizingly close but Karl-Anthony Towns and the Dominicans were simply too poised to blink in the face of the immense pressure from the hard-fighting Gilas and its legion of fans.
“The guys fought hard, really, really hard but in the end without our guy, their guy went on to work. Just kept going to the basket and got foul after foul. They shot 34 free throws and that was too much for us,” said Reyes.
“We were there. One break, one bounce here and there. One call here and there might have been a different story but like I said, a very strong team, two NBA players with an NBA All-Star. It’s very unfortunate that we came up short,” he added.