By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
The Philippine national men’s basketball team will not be making the trip to the Tokyo Olympics later this month after it failed to advance beyond group play in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Serbia.
Gilas Pilipinas lost to the Dominican Republic, 94-67, in their win-or-go home match in Group A of the tournament early Friday morning (Manila time) for a spot in the crossover semifinals.
The Dominican Republic used a strong third-quarter push to create a considerable distance from the young Gilas crew from which the latter could not recover from.
The contest was tight in the opening half until the Dominicans cranked things up late in the third canto.
From a tied count of 47-all at the 7:09 mark, the Dominican Republic outscored the Philippines, 18-4, to build a 14-point cushion, 65-51, heading into the fourth quarter.
In the payoff period, the Dominicans built on the momentum it had in the previous frame to continuously frustrate any comeback attempt by Gilas.
The score stood at 79-58 for the Dominican Republic midway into the fourth canto before it went on to close out the contest.
Victor Liz led the Dominicans in scoring in the win, finishing with 23 points, followed by Gelvis Solano and Michael Torres Cuevas with 21 and 20 points, respectively.
For Gilas, it was Filipino-Australian Jordan Heading who showed the way, scoring 16 points, boosted by 4-of-6 shooting from three-point land.
Filipino naturalized player was the other Gilas member in double digits with 10 points.
“No excuses. Not much to say about it other than we were outplayed, outcoached, and outfought. You have to give the Dominican Republic credit for the way they played and doing what they had to do to win and win convincingly,” said Gilas coach Tab Baldwin following their loss, second in as many games in the Olympic qualifiers.
Gilas Pilipinas will now return to the country and prepare for its next tournament – the FIBA Asia Cup in Indonesia next month.
The Dominican Republic, meanwhile, joined Serbia in the crossover semifinals of the OQT happening on July 3. It will face Group B leader Italy in the semis while Serbia takes on Puerto Rico. Winners of both brackets will dispute the lone Olympic spot in the finals.
