Before the Lenten break, the 28-man pool that will mark up the Philippine men’s basketball team for the Southeast Asian Games meets for the first time on Monday.

Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes stated that on April 3, training will start at the Meralco gym, allowing the squad at least a month to prepare before it sets out on its mission to win basketball gold again at this year’s biannual competition, which will be hosted in Cambodia.

The team named by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) the previous week composed of June Mar Fajardo, adopted player Justin Brownlee, CJ Perez, Marcio Lassiter, Chris Ross, Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar, Jamie Malonzo, Christian Standhardinger, Stanley Pringle, Jeremiah Gray, Roger Pogoy, Calvin Oftana, Poy Erram, Mikey Williams, Chris Newsome, Raymond Almazan Aaron Black, Kevin Alas, Brandon Ganuelas-Rosser, and Arvin Tolentino.

Even pool players whose clubs are competing in the PBA Governors Cup finals, according to Reyes, would be present at the team’s inaugural ‘Mission: SEA Games’ practice.

After TNT and the defending champion Barangay Ginebra negotiated a best-of-seven title matchup, Brownlee, Thompson, Aguilar, Malonzo, Standhardinger, Pringle, and Gray, together with Pogoy, Oftana, Erram, and Williams, are all in the season-ending finals.

The SEA Games are from May 5 to 17, and Gilas hopes to restore its honor and pride after losing the basketball gold to Indonesia by a score of 85-81 last year.

Only the players Fajardo and Pogoy, together with Reyes, were a member of the only second national team to win a silver medal in the biennial showpiece’s basketball competition.

For Gilas Philippines, a split in the sixth round of the FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers was not necessarily the best outcome.

Yet, the national team came within one basket of a perfect record against two of Asia’s top squads, giving Filipino basketball fans much to celebrate. Particularly, these five outstanding players made a significant impact.