Gilas Pilipinas show fighting spirit but fall short against Greece

Cebuano June Mar Fajardo of the Philippines battles Greece’s big men down low during a Group B match at the Fiba World Championships.

For the second game in a row, the Philippine national men’s basketball squad also known as the “Gilas Pilipinas,” hung around with the big boys before falling short against Greece, 70-82, for its second loss in a row in the Fiba World Cup yesterday at the City Arena in Seville, Spain.

A day after losing in overtime to Croatia, 78-81, the Nationals found themselves ranged against a Greek squad that had an answer every time the Philippines gained some semblance of momentum to try and rally back from deficits that went as high as 17. In the end, Greece grabbed its second win in a row to pace Group B.

Fellow Gruop B team Senegal, ranked 41st in the world, stunned 17th-ranked Puerto Rico, 82-75, late Sunday and Croatia, 77-75, yesterday to gain a share of second  place with a 2-1 (win-loss) slate.  Croatia has the same record.

Argentina, with a 1-1  record, was playing the Philippines (0-2) as of press time. Puerto Rico also has a 0-2 card and was set to face Greece late yesterday.

In spite of an injured knee, naturalized player Andray Blatche scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to pace Gilas while Cebuano June Mar Fajardo, the PBA’s reigning MVP, added 10 points and seven rebounds in just 10 minutes of action.

The Gilas suffered from its anemic shooting from beyond the three-point arc, where it made just six of 22.

Georgios Printezis led the Greeks with 25 points and eight rebounds while Giannis Bourousis, who got in a scuffle with Gilas guard LA Tenorio right after the final buzzer, had a double-double with 12 markers and 10 boards.

The Greeks were firmly in control from the get-go but the Gilas was right in it and even came to within eight, 68-76, after a straightaway triple by Tenorio and a tip-in by Japeth Aguilar with 40 seconds remaining.

But Greece kept its focus and put the game away with a three pointer by Memphis Grizzlies point guard Nick Calathes 19 seconds later.

Meanwhile,  Kenneth Faried scored 22 points, Anthony Davis made all of his 19 in the second half, and the US rebounded from a rare deficit at halftime to beat Turkey, 98-77, in Bilbao.

A night after crushing Finland by 59 in its biggest rout ever while using NBA players in the former world championship, the Americans couldn’t take control against Turkey until early in the fourth quarter after compiling a 17-1 run.

The Americans trailed 40-35 at halftime and Turkey led by six early in the third before the Americans could finally get the game into the quicker tempo they prefer and pull away to win the rematch of the 2010 gold-medal game in Istanbul.

But it was a much tougher one than expected after the Americans hammered Finland 114-55 while Turkey was being outplayed for most of its opener by New Zealand before pulling out the victory. /with a report from AP