Gilas Pilipinas Basketball

Gilas Pilipinas played better but were still outclassed thoroughly by World no. 4 Serbia, 126-67 Monday in Group D of the continuing group stages of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Foshan, China.

The Serbians showed they are legitimate contenders for the World Cup gold medal, dislaying dominance throughout the game for their second win in a row.

NBA veterans Nemanja Bjelica and Bogdan Bogdanovic led seven double-digit scorers with 20 and 17 points each. Bjelica played only 16 and a half minutes.

Bogdanovic had four triples, while the Europeans shot 12-of-22 overall from long distance. They also shot a pristine 75 percent from the field.

Gilas was led by CJ Perez for the second straight contest with 16 markers, showing his fearlessness inside the game. Paul Lee stepped up and chipped in 15 points.

The Philippines momentarily took a 9-7 lead over Serbia before the latter went on a huge run.

Later, the much stronger opponents of Gilas went on a 26-2 run to establish a 62-35 halftime cushion.

Not satisfied, Serbia opened the third frame with 13 unanswered points to suck the energy out of Gilas and walk away with the blowout win.

With their second straight loss, the nationals were relegated to the classification phase where they hope to finish as the highest-placed Asian squad for a shot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

At least a top 23 finish may also guarantee Gilas a slot in the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

Gilas will wrap up its first round schedule against Angola on Wednesday.

Game Scores:
Philippines 67 – Perez 16, Lee 15, Fajardo 8, Aguilar 7, Bolick 7, Blatche 5, Ravena 5, Pogoy 2, Rosario 2, Almazan 0, Norwood 0.

Written by Levi Verora, Jr.
Photos by Glenn Michael Tan