MANILA -- Almost everyone in the Gilas Pilipinas Men pool for the Southeast Asian Games was present when the national team began its practice for the said meet on Monday night at the Meralco Gym in Pasig.
The 14 selected players present in practice were Japeth Aguilar, Jayson Castro, Arth Dela Cruz, Marcio Lassiter, Vic Manuel, RR Pogoy, Stanley Pringle, Troy Rosario, Chris Ross, Chris Standhardinger, Greg Slaughter, LA Tenorio, Scottie Thompson, and Matt Wright.
However, Standhardinger and Lassiter only observed the practice as they are still recovering from their respective injuries.
Standhardinger assured everyone that he will play in the SEA Games 5-on-5 basketball competition from Dec. 5-10 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
"I should be fine when [the] SEA Games begin," he said.
Meanwhile, Junemar Fajardo was the lone absentee in practice.
Coach Tim Cone explained his absence, saying, "Junemar has a personal issue during the night. We're expecting him to show up on Thursday."
The practice was held behind closed doors with the reporters only getting in at the end of practice.
"We realized we have a short number of practices, so we want to be very concise. That's why we're being strict on how we handle the practices and who's around because we have such a short window," Cone explained. (PNA)
