GILAS Pilipinas lost to China by 44 points, 105-61, on Monday and failed to reach the knockout rounds of the 20th Asian Games men’s basketball tournament where it is the defending champion.
Gilas’ title defense came to an embarrassing end after failing to either win its final game of the group stage or avoid losing by a margin of 37 points or more to emerge as the two best third-placers that will reach the quarterfinals.
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Gilas was at a +27 point differential entering the game, and was the best third-placed squad until China blew out the same team that eliminated it from gold-medal contention in the semifinals of the 2023 Asiad in Hangzhou.
With the loss, Jordan and Saudi Arabia claimed the final two quarterfinal spots as the two best third-placed teams with a similar 1-2 win-loss record and a point differential of -5 and -11 respectively.
The Philippines also has a 1-2 win-loss mark but with an inferior -17 point difference.
After an impressive showing in its 109-78 win over Kazakhstan, Gilas was a shadow of itself on Monday.
The Philippines shot just 7-of-30 from threes after making 16 against Kazakhstan, and was outrebounded, 55-36, by a much-taller Chinese squad that went on to complete a sweep of its Group C mtches.
China got off to a 7-0 start with University of Massachusetts player Wang Junjie setting the tone early. Three straight threes from Hu Mingxuan midway through the first helped China grab a 36-16 lead at the end of the quarter.
China continued to dominate in the second quarter, and went into the halftime break with a 66-30 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Gilas fought to meet the losing margin threshold after the deficit went down to 81-46, but Wang scored on a slam to begin a 7-0 blast that extended China’s lead once more as the Filipinos mostly fired blanks.
Calvin Oftana topscored for Gilas Pilipinas with 13 points, while Sedrick Barefield had nine points. But Robert Bolick and Jerrick Ahanmisi each had five points, and combined for only 2-of-11 from three-point range.
Wang had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and Liao Sanning added 14 points. Yongxi Cui also had a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The scores:
China 105 – Wang 20, Liao 14, Hu M. 13, Jiao 11, Li 11, Hu J. 10, Cui 10, Yu 9, Pang 7.
Philippines 61 – Oftana 13, Barefield 9, Trollano 7, Ahanmisi 5, Bolick 5, Lucero 5, Ganuelas-Rosser 5, Abarrientos 4, Nocum 4, Bates 2, Arana 2, Baltazar 0.
Quarters: 36-16; 66-30; 79-40; 105-61.
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