GILAS Pilipinas continued its impressive run in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade as it held a 41-39 halftime lead over Dominican Republic on Friday (Manila time) at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Serbia.
Jordan Heading found his touch from the outside early, drilling three of his four triples to lead the Philippines with nine points as the team collectively shot 6-of-10 from beyond the arc.
Kai Sotto was also solid with his six points on a pair of slams, to go with two rebounds while William Navarro also got six points to his name.
The Filipinos even took an eight-point lead, 33-25, after a Navarro block-to-dunk combination at the 5:27 mark of the second period.
Gilas, though, must clean up its act as it committed 10 turnovers by halftime, eight of which came in the first quarter.
Dominican Republic has been lording it over the boards, grabbing 21 rebounds, nine coming on the offensive end, to the Philippines' 17.
Victor Liz, though, has been a thorn on the side of Gilas as he already has 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from deep, including a buzzer-beating trey to end the half.
Good news for the Filipinos, however, is the paltry three-point shooting for the opposition at 4-of-16.
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