Hot-shooting Italy prevails as winless Gilas drops to classification round
Italy found the perfect time to recover its shooting touch, using a big second quarter run and making 17 threes to fend off Gilas Pilipinas, 90-83 in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 group stage on Tuesday at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
After a tight opening quarter, the Azzurri outscored the Philippines, 28-16 in the second period behind their outside shooting to pull away and punch their ticket to the World Cup Round of 16.
Simone Fontecchio scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half to lead six double-digit scorers for Italy. Giampaolo Ricci added 14 points while Marco Spissu and Stefano Tonut both tallied 13 points.
Italy shot a remarkable 17-of-41 from three-point land and dished out 24 assists in a showcase of sound ball movement and team basketball as it joined the Dominican Republic in the second round of the tournament.
A Kiefer Ravena triple gave the Philippines a 26-22 lead momentarily, only to be answered by a 16-3 run by Italy built on threes by Fontecchio, Giampaolo Ricci, and Luigi Datome.
Later, Alessandro Pajola’s trey pushed the Italians’ advantage up to 64-49 midway in the third.
From there, coach Gianmarco Pozzecco’s troops maintained the double-digit difference, leading by as much as 18 and answering all of their opponent’s best punches.
Jordan Clarkson led the nationals for the third game in a row with 23 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Dwight Ramos provided 14 points while four others chipped in at least seven markers.
An and-one conversion by Clarkson and a fastbreak layup by Jaime Malonzo pulled Gilas within 88-81 with just under two minutes to play left, but the Philippines misfired twice late and eventually ran out of time to mount a desperate comeback.
The Philippines surprisingly led the rebounding department this time at 39-35, and made more triples with 10, although were unable to sustain another good start.
Earlier, the Dominican Republic swept the group with a hard-fought 75-67 win over Angola. It left the door open for Gilas to enter the second round; however, the home side will settle for the classification phase and will face two squads among China, Puerto Rico, and South Sudan.
Meanwhile, co-host Japan still holds the early lead over its Asian counterparts in the race for the continent’s lone ticket to the Paris Olympics 2024 even after losing to Australia in Group E, 109-89 in Okinawa.
Boxscores:
Italy (90) – Fontecchio 18, Ricci 14, Spissu 13, Tonut 13, Pajola 11, Melli 10, Achille Polonara 6, Datome 5, Severini 0.
Gilas Pilipinas (83) – Clarkson 23, Ramos 14, Pogoy 9, Abando 8, Edu 8, Ravena 8, Malonzo 7, Sotto 2, Aguilar 0, Perez 0, Thompson 0.
Quarter scores: 20–23, 48-39, 73-60, 90-83.
Written by Levi Joshua Verora Jr.
Photos from fiba.basketball
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