Olympic dream shattered as Gilas falters against Dominican Republic
Gilas Pilipinas’ William Raniel Navarro tries to put up a shot against Dominican Republic’s Luis Santos during the FIBA Men’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament. | AFP photo
The Gilas Pilipinas’ Olympic dream got shattered with a 67-94 loss to the Dominican Republic in the Fiba (International Basketball Federation) Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade on Friday morning, July 2, 2021, (Philippine time).
The Philippines were a neck-and-neck with the Dominican Republic in the first half but the Nationals lost steam in the remaining half, leading to their exit in the chase for a berth in the Tokyo Games this month.
“There are many lessons to learn from this. Will take this in the chin, learn our lessons and take it for the future,” Gilas coach Tab Baldwin said.
The Gilas had a 41-39 edge at the half but the Dominicans came out on fire in the second half as the 19th-ranked in the world zoomed to a 75-51 lead that would pave the way for the easy win and bag them a seat in the semifinals.
Jordan Heading and Ange Kouame led the Gilas with 16 and 10 points, respectively.
The scores:
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 94 – Liz 23, Solano 21, Torres Cuevas 20, Nunez Castillo 13, Francis Ramirez 5, Rojas 4, Araujo 4, Santos 2, Mendoza 2, Henriquez 0, Feliz Sarita 0, Martinez 0.
PHILIPPINES 67 – Heading 16, Kouame 10, Sotto 8, Navarro 6, Belangel 6, Abarrientos 6, Baltazar 5, Tamayo 5, Nieto 4, Go 1, Chiu 0.
Quarterscores: 23-22, 39-41, 65-51, 94-67. / With a report from PBA.PH
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