What’s up, Ballers! The Philippine national men’s basketball team played the host team in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Belgrade, Serbia, on Thursday morning (Manila time). The Philippines’ first match is in Group A against Serbia, who is ranked fifth in the world. Gilas has taken the same group to the OQT that competed in the recent FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers in Clark City in Angeles, Pampanga, and performed well. Mr. Baldwin said in the lead-up that they anticipate a difficult task at the OQT due to the high level of competition, but that they are committed to not just putting on a nice display, but also gaining important experience for the young players that they can use going forward. Apart from Serbia, Gilas, the world’s 31st-ranked squad, will compete in Group A against the Dominican Republic (19th).
The 12-man roster is composed of Dwight Ramos, Justine Baltazar, SJ Belangel, RJ Abarrientos, Will Navarro, Angelo Kouame, Mike Nieto, Isaac Go, Jordan Heading, Carl Tamayo, Geo Chiu and Kai Sotto.
“It’s gonna be a great challenge and we’re excited about it,” Coach Baldin said.
Mr. Baldwin emphasized, however, that several of their players are injured, including versatile guard Dwight Ramos, who has been deemed “unlikely to suit up” for Gilas in the two games due to a groin injury, but the team is still hopeful he can participate. Carl Tamayo (ankle) and naturalized player Angelo Kouame (knee) are both likely to participate despite not being 100 percent fit.
NBA players Nemanja Bjelica (Miami) and Boban Marjanovic (Dallas), as well as veteran guard and former NBA campaigner Milo Teodosi, will be on hand for the home squad.
The top two teams from each group progress to the crossover semifinals, where the winners compete for a place in the Olympic finals.
Gilas Pilipinas matches may be seen on One Sports and One Sports+, as well as online via Smart’s gigafest.smart on mobile devices.
Gilas Vs Serbia
The Gilas Pilipinas gave Serbia all they could handle, but Serbia came out on top 83-76 in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying tournament in Belgrade early Thursday.
Despite the absence of their greatest player, Dwight Ramos, the Filipinos pushed the Serbians–led by NBA center Boban Marjanovic and star forward Ognjen Dobric–to their limits, seizing the lead 74-73 with less than four minutes to play.
The Serbians, on the other hand, came to their senses just in time, finishing off the game with a decisive 10-2 run to progress to the qualifying semifinals.
“At some point, we were relaxed. We played irresponsibly. That resulted in us playing an uncertain ending. We must not allow that,” Milos Teodosic, Serbia’s captain, confessed after the game.
Serbia was led by Marjanovic, who scored 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Dobric, who had 16 points on four triples. The youthful Filipino team, made up mostly of amateur standouts, put up a valiant effort, rallying from a 16-point deficit to give Serbia a fright in the last minutes.
“A lot of people will look at this as some sort of moral victory. I’ve been in this game for such a long time and I just don’t believe in those,” said Baldwin.
Angelo Koaume, a naturalized center, led the Philippines with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Jordan Heading chipped in with 13 points. RJ Abarrientos, who gave Gilas its lone lead of the day, scored nine points to go along with Kai Sotto’s 10 points and five rebounds.
It is indeed a tough game, Ballers! Not a very good day that we did not won against the Serbia but the good thing is, they tried their best to fight and win. That’s it for our today’s news, Ballers! Discodad is signing out, I’ll catch you up on our next ball news!