GILAS Pilipinas fell behind early and trailed South Sudan, 51-33, at the half in their 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup classification round match at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
Reigning NBA G League MVP Carlik Jones was as good as advertised as South Sudan’s court general, leading his team to a 16-3 start to the ballgame.
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South Sudan maintained that sizeable gap even after repeated comeback attempts by Gilas Pilipinas led by AJ Edu, Dwight Ramos, and Jordan Clarkson.
Jones had an all-around effort in the first half with eight points, five rebounds, and seven assists, before his teammates led by Majok Deng and Marial Shayok took over.
Deng led all scorers with 11 points and hit two of South Sudan’s nine threes in the first half. Shayok added 10 points including three straight points to swell the lead to 51-30.
Ramos had nine points while Clarkson added eight points for Gilas.
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