TEHRAN - A hobbling San Miguel-RP Team lost to Syria's Al Jalaa 80-114 Tuesday, leaving national coach Chot Reyes to carefully weigh his options for the remainder of the 18th FIBA Asia Champions Cup at the Azadi Stadium here.

Towering Bernard Jons had a rare triple double of 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocked shots while Julius Nwosu added 18 points and eight rebounds to spark and fuel the Syrians' rout that took shape right in the first half.

More than the Syrian imports, however, it was the injuries being nursed by Jimmy Alapag, Danny Seigle and Mick Pennisi that hastened the Nationals third straight and most lopsided loss in Group B. Alapag and Seigle sprained their ankles and Pennisi suffered a gimpy left knee in a 66-75 loss to Kazakhstan's Astana Tigers last Monday.

All three played against the Syrians but Reyes decided not to risk them aggravating their injuries by benching them in the second half.

The Nationals can still make the quarterfinals on Friday if they win over Bahrain's Al Muharraq at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday (1:15 a.m. Thursday, Manila time) ending group play.

But Reyes has yet to decide whether he will leave his injured players' fate to chance since the tournament they are really gearing up for, the SEABA championship set May 24-28 in Thailand, is just around the corner.

"Foremost among my responsibilities here is to protect my players and make sure we have the strongest team possible for the SEABA," Reyes said.

Alternate meetings with his staff and players have been set by Reyes starting at 11 a.m. Wednesday, both as part of the team's dynamics and also to plot the strategies for that evening's game.

"We'll talk among ourselves," said Reyes. "While we will definitely go all out to win tonight, we'll also try to find out how best to win even without being 100 percent."

One of Reyes' goals here is to find the combinations that will click and the load on his mind got heavier after seeing his team unravel right in the first half for the second straight game.

Mostly, it was because of Jons, a skinny, long-limbed 7-footer who has the quick leap and uncanny timing to swat away shots and compliments his two-handed dunkswith some nifty perimeter shooting.

"He plays above the air," said Asi Taulava, five times rejected by the Louisiana native.

Jons went 8-for-9 from the field and 6-for-7 from the stripe before sitting out the fourth quarter, leaving Nwosu and the rest of the Syrians to stretch their lead to as much as 114-77.

Ren-Ren Ritualo scored the Nationals' last 15 points off triples and wound up with 23. Despite just 19 minutes of action and his injury, Seigle still finished with 14 points.

Michael Mandaly led all scorers with 27 points to go with 10 rebounds while Brazil natives Eduardo Farhat, Marcelo Correa and 6'6 playmaker Andre Churri combined for 18 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. * PBA.ph

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