THE Olympic dream ends for Gilas Pilipinas.
Dominican Republic put on its big boy pants and bullied the Philippines on the way to a 94-67 victory on Friday (Manila time) in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Serbia.
Victor Liz, Gelvis Solano, and the rest of the Dominicana frustrated their young Filipino counterparts in the second half, unleashing a brutal 26-10 third quarter storm capped by 12 unanswered points to end the frame well ahead, 65-51
Everything went downhill for the Philippines from there, paying dearly for 23 turnovers that the Dominican Republic turned into 26 bonus points.
Liz finished with 23 points on 5-of-6 shooting from downtown, to go with three rebounds, two assists, and two steals, while Solano did his damage with 21 points, five assists, and three steals against their younger counterparts.
The win pushed Dominican Republic to the semifinal rounds with its 1-1 card in Group A and set up a date against Group B topnotcher Italy.
Michael Torres Cuevas joined in the barrage with his 20 points, six assists, five rebounds, and three steals, as Angel Thomas Nunez Castillo scored 13 points and six boards as Dominicana atoned for a loss to Serbia on opening day.
Learning curve for Gilas youngsters
It was a painful end to the Belgrade OQT campaign for the Filipinos, who showed great promise in a 83-76 defeat to Serbia a day earlier and even held an eight point lead against Dominicana, 33-25, midway through the second quarter.
However, fatigue caught up with Gilas in the second half when Dominican Republic made the decisive move as the Filipinos lapsed into a maze of errors, most of them unforced.
Jordan Heading led Gilas with 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting - the only bright spot on a night when the long ball soured on the Philippines in the second half where it made only two threes to finish 8-of-19 sniping from distance.
Naturalized center Ange Kouame got 10 points and six rebounds while Kai Sotto had eight points and four boards for the Filipinos, which continued to miss the services of injured starting guard Dwight Ramos.
After losing two games in Belgrade, the focus for the young Gilas boys now turn to the 2021 Fiba Asia Cup in Indonesia in August.
The Scores:
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 94 - Liz 23, Solano 21, Torres Cuevas 20, Nunez Castillo 13, Francis Ramirez 5, Rojas 4, Araujo 4, Santos 2, Mendoza 2, Henriquez 0, Feliz Sarita 0, Martinez 0.
PHILIPPINES 67 - Heading 16, Kouame 10, Sotto 8, Navarro 6, Belangel 6, Abarrientos 6, Baltazar 5, Tamayo 5, Nieto 4, Go 1, Chiu 0.
Quarters: 23-22, 39-41, 65-51, 94-67.
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