Chot credits home crowd-like energy of Filipinos in Gilas win against Saudi Arabia

The Gilas Pilipinas national team were not the only Filipinos who showed up for the game against Saudi Arabia.

A sizable part of the crowd during the team's 76-63 win against the Saudis in the fifth window of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers were Filipino supporters who came out to cheer for Gilas.

And for head coach Chot Reyes, it was a good spark for the squad.

"I think we got a lot of energy from the crowd. They really gave us a huge boost," Reyes said in a post-game conference. "They just wouldn't allow us to lose until we hit our strides and finally hit some shots in the second half, in the third quarter."

But for the national team head coach, one crucial factor helped them in taking the victory.

"We were able to use our defense essentially to pull off the victory."

Reyes also praised the Saudi team for the high quality of play they gave, particularly early in the game.

"Kudos to the Saudi national team, I thought they came out and played hard. They came in with a very good game plan and we expected it. We knew the high quality of this team so we had mentally prepared ourselves to struggle, especially coming from a very tough game in Jordan and a tough trip. Luckily, we stayed patient through our early struggles," Reyes added.

Scottie Thompson, who had nine points, nine rebounds, and three assists, and two steals, echoed Reyes' sentiments.

"Coming to this game, we knew that this was a tough game. Saudi [Arabia] is really a tough team. I think in the first half we were too excited, we had a lot of turnovers. Good thing we got to recover in the second half and pull it off."

Gilas will be back in action in the sixth window in February 2023.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News