GILAS Pilipinas fell behind early to trail Georgia, 55-43, at halftime of a pivotal FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament game in Riga, Latvia on Thursday.
The Nationals conceded 16 straight points against Georgia, in total contrast to their historic win over Latvia when they scored the first eight markers of the match.
SCENARIO: How Gilas Pilipinas can reach the OQT semis
Gilas trailed by as many as 20 points but was able to cut the gap to six late in the second quarter only for Georgia to raise the lead back to 12 at the break.
Georgia, however, still has work to do as it needs to win by 19 points or more in order to dislodge Gilas from the OQT semifinal berth.
Gilas must win or lose by 18 points or less to wound up with the semifinal berth in Group A.
The Philippines also had to endure a scary moment when Kai Sotto got hurt in the rib area after a collision with Georgia’s Joe Thomasson at the 6:42-mark of the second quarter. He never went back to the court during that period.
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