Gilas Pilipinas Basketball

Gilas Pilipinas leaned on its hot three-point shooting to repulse Korea, 82-77 in the final day of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers third window on Sunday in Pampanga.

The Philippines shot exemplary from long-range, making 14-of-37 from three-point distance.

Dwight Ramos, arguably the most consistent player for Gilas throughout the window, led the hot shooting with his 19 points on 5-of-9 from deep, along with three rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

RJ Abarrientos, Jordan Heading, and Kai Sotto all contributed 10 points as apiece as the squad went perfect in Group A at 6-0.

The Philippines engaged in the back-and-forth showdown from the start, unlike in their last meeting where the team had to play catch-up.

Five straight points by William Navarro in the third pushed the nationals to their biggest lead at 43-34. But Korea fought back with second chance opportunities and outside shots, taking a momentary 54-53 edge.

Triples by SJ Belangel, Ramos, and Heading pushed Gilas ahead, 75-69, while a slam by Justine Baltazar made it 79-75 with only 31.7 seconds left.

A foul during a deadball situation from Lee Daesung gave two free throws to Belangel and an extra possession for Gilas to seal the win with Ramos earning foul shots in the end.

Ra Gu Na powered Korea with a double-double of 20 points on 8-of-10 field goals and 13 boards.

Gilas will now prepare for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, Serbia where it got a last-minute invite following the pull-out of New Zealand.

Box scores:
Philippines (82) – Ramos 19, Abarrientos 10, Heading 10, Sotto 10, Navarro 8, Kouame 7, Belangel 6, Baltazar 6, Go 3, Nieto 3, Chiu 0.

Korea (77) – Ra 20, Lee H.J. 13, Yang 12, Lee D.S. 9, Lee S.H. 8, Kim 8, Seong 3, Jun 2, Byeon 2, Yungi 0. Quarterscores: 18-20, 38-34, 56-54, 82-77.

Written by Levi Verora Jr.

Photos from FIBA