It was good that Gilas Boys head coach LA Tenorio can finally laugh off what seemed to be a tense start to his coaching career in the national youth team.

With the Nationals starting out cold, allowing the visiting Vietnam to an early 13-4 lead, Tenorio was forced to call a timeout – his first ever which he didn't think he would be using that soon 

“Halatang bagito ba? Nag-panic agad!” Tenorio said laughing after Gilas Boys' 113-62 victory over Vietnam to open their campaign in the FIBA U16 Asia Cup SEABA qualifiers at the Bren Z. Guiao Convention Center in Pampanga.

To Tenorio's relief, the timeout was exactly what his young wards needed to finally settle down and get their bearings going as they went on tear from there to build a 61-33 lead at the half.

The newly minted coach did admit that there's still a lot for the team to learn and improve on as they continue to develop the new program under Tenorio's leadership.

Tenorio himself admitted that he's still getting his feet wet to his new role.

“Para akong varsity player uli,” Tenorio said, talking about his feelings in his coaching debut.

“It was a learning process — for the boys and myself. We all will need to learn from our mistakes.” 

Tenorio admitted that the team was caught off guard by how well Vietnam in the opening minutes, though it was only a reminder that nothing will be given to them during the tournament

“We didn’t know anything about them, not much scouting report,” he said. “But we knew they have three very good players.”

Gilas returns to action on Sunday against Thailand and Singapore the next day before taking a break on Tuesday. Gilas then wraps up the schedule with a clash against Indonesia and Malaysia on the 28th and 29th.