QUOTING Head Coach Tab Baldwin, the national men’s team took it on the chin following a 67-94 rout at the hands of Dominican Republic at dawn on Friday in the International Basketball Federation Olympic Qualifying Tournament at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade.
A day after scaring Serbia and getting a number or two from the Euro brand of basketball, Gilas Pilipinas found out that the Latin American type was one tough nut to crack.
All hopes for Gilas advancing further in the qualifiers were quashed after the half-time break which the Filipinos led, 41-39, as the Dominicanos locked down on their foes from Asia, forcing 23 turnovers they transformed to 26 points.
The Gilas cadets went 0-2 won-lost and are flying back home with their chins up high—thanks to that 76-83 scare of a loss they gave to the world No. 5 Serbians.
“We will now head home with lessons in our pocket,” Baldwin said. “It’s sort of a mixed campaign here with a decent performance against Serbia and a disappointing performance tonight.”
“These young men will work hard together and will take this in the chin and learn from the lessons, and build for the future,” he added.
Jordan Heading had 16 points to lead the Filipinos’ campain, while naturalized 6-foot-11 Ange Kouame tallied 10 points and six rebounds.
Victor Liz scored 23 points while Gelvis Solano had 21 for Dominican Republic, which rained 26 points to the Philippines’s 10 to rip the game apart, 51-65, in the third quarter.
Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas Executive Director Sonny Barrios gave the team a passing grade.
“These boys gave the Serbia a scare and competed against [world] No. 19 Dominican Republic,” Barrios said. “These two countries trained well while we had a hard time in training—imagine training inside the Calamba bubble all by themselves without tuneup games because of quarantine restrictions.”
Next up for Gilas is the FibaAsia Cup in Jakarta from August 17 to 29.
Image courtesy of fiba.basketball