Misfiring Gilas falls to South Sudan as Japan nears Olympic berth
Gilas Pilipinas’ dream of making the Olympics through the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 is over.
The Philippines struggled and fell to South Sudan, 87-68 on Thursday in the tournament’s classification phase at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum, even as Japan came from behind to stun Venezuela, 86-77 in Okinawa.
The contrasting results have pushed the Akatsuki Five, who are now 2-2 in the tournament, closer to a second straight Olympic basketball tournament while Gilas fell to 0-4 overall.
Carlick Jones led the upstart African nation with a near triple-double of 17 points, nine rebounds, and 14 assists. Majok Deng and Nuni Omot added 13 points each, while Marial Shayok contributed 12.
Former Los Angeles Laker Wenyen Gabriel also tallied a double-double of 11 points and 11 boards.
It was likewise the second victory for South Sudan, which moved closer to the Olympics.
Gilas played catch-up from the get-go as a flat start allowed South Sudan to establish as high as a 50-30 lead late in the first half.
But the hard-fighting hosts found a way to erase the huge deficit and pull within four on a Kai Sotto slam, 60-56 early in the fourth quarter.
However, it was the closest the hosts could get as South Sudan answered with a telling 17-5 run capped by Nuni Omot’s free throws to push the gap up to 77-61 with 3:04 left.
Omot later hit the dagger triple that made it 81-66 with under two minutes remaining, putting the game out of Gilas’ reach.
Ramos had his finest performance wearing a Philippine jersey with 20 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Clarkson had a team-high 24 while AJ Edu added a double-double of 12 points and 14 boards.
In other games involving Asian nations, Lebanon defeated Cote d’Ivoire, 94-84 in Jakarta to register its first win while China came from behind earlier to nip Angola, 83-76.
China will have to beat Gilas by a big margin on Saturday and hope Japan loses to Cape Verde to give itself a chance of complicating the Asian race to the Olympiad.
The only way for Gilas to qualify for Paris 2024 is if they get into one of the four Olympic Qualifying Tournaments and win.
Boxscores:
South Sudan (87) – Jones 17, Deng 13, Omot 13, Shayok 12, Gabriel 11, Kacuol 8, Kuany 8, Acuoth 3, Dech 2, Maluach 0.
Gilas Pilipinas (68) – Clarkson 24, Ramos 20, Edu 12, Sotto 8, Malonzo 4, Abando 0, Aguilar 0, Fajardo 0, Perez 0, Pogoy 0, Ravena 0, Thompson 0.
Quarter scores: 34-17, 51-33, 60-50, 87-68.
Written by Levi Joshua Verora Jr.
Photos from fiba.basketball
Leave a Reply