GILAS Pilipinas absorbed an 81-71 loss to Estonia in Tallinn in their first tune-up game in the final buildup for the Fiba Basketball World Cup on Wednesday.
The Philippines fell behind early 0-9 and found itself trailing, 49-35, at the half against a host side composed mostly of younger players from its senior national team, with Taavi Jurkatamm the oldest at 26 years old.
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The Nationals were able to mount a comeback and cut the deficit to 64-59 at the end of the third and were only down, 66-63, midway through the final quarter.
Estonia, however, got its rhythm back in time behind a couple of clutch shots, including a three by Joonas Riisnaa with 10.7 seconds left that sealed the victory.
Estonia won after shooting 11-of-37 from three-point distance, most of the conversions coming in the first half. Gilas only had five three-pointers the entire game on 17 shots.
Gilas also had to play the final moments of the game without Justin Brownlee after the naturalized player suffered an injury in the third quarter.
Scottie Thompson also didn’t see action for the match due to back spasms.
Gilas will have little time to rest as it takes on Finland on Wednesday, 6 p.m. local time (11 p.m. Philippine standard time), also in Tallinn.
Dwight Ramos had 16 points while Thirdy Ravena had nine points for the Philippines.
Brownlee, who arrived in Tallinn on the eve of the tune-up game against Estonia, had nine points and four rebounds in 19 minutes before going down with an injury.
June Mar Fajardo had a game-high nine rebounds against a tall Estonia frontline.
Carlos Jurgens had 20 points while Mikk Jurkatamm had 14 points for Estonia.
The scores:
Estonia 81 – Jurgens 20, M. Jurkatamm 14, Ilver 12, Riismaa 10, Kirsipuu 8, Aav 5, Pehka 5, T. Jurkatamm 3, Kasemets 2, Carey 2, Suurorg 0.
Philippines 71 – Ramos 16, T. Ravena 9, Brownlee 8, Perez 7, K. Ravena 6, Abando 5, Erram 5, Aguilar 5, Fajardo 5, Malonzo 3, Newsome 2.
Quarters: 29-14; 49-35; 64-59; 81-71.
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