BOCAUE, Bulacan – Jordan got Gilas Pilipinas shell-shocked by its proficient shooting in the first half to trail, 60-41, at the break in their Monday’s Fiba Basketball World Cup Asian qualifiers game at the Philippine Arena.
Gilas Pilipinas vs Jordan halftime
Freddy Ibrahim led the offensive attack of the Falcons with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, including two threes, while naturalized player Dar Tucker and veteran Zaid Abbas also did their share in giving Jordan the lead that reached as high as 25.
Gilas Pilipinas was able to cut the deficit in the final minutes of the second through the efforts of Justin Brownlee and Jamie Malonzo to make the gap manageable for the home side.
Still, Gilas was far from its form on offense in the first half, hitting just 13-of-35 (37 percent) from the field, as compared to Jordan’s 20-of-36 (56 percent) from the field.
Tucker had 13 points, while Sami Bzai had nine points, all on threes for Jordan. Abbas had eight points in nine minutes for Jordan.
Brownlee had 12 points to lead Gilas but shot 5-of-11 from the field in the first half, while Malonzo had nine points including a follow-up slam off a Brownlee miss in the second quarter, the highlight of the match thus far for Gilas.
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