MANILA — Gilas Pilipinas Men ended up at the losing side of a heartbreaking 84-81 win by Angola in their final first round game in the FIBA World Cup at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Arena in Foshan, China on Wednesday.
Despite coming back from 12 points down, Gilas Men could not steal the game from Angola when CJ Perez had to hurry up a long triple after realizing late and squandered the last 5.2 seconds in regulation with the game tied at 73-all.
Gilas had a good start and even led midway in overtime but errors and poor shooting hounded the team as Angola overtook them in the last two minutes. Kiefer Ravena's long triple for the equalizer late in overtime also rimmed out as time expired.
Valdelicio Joaquim made 20 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, and one steal to lead Angola, which became the first African team to beat the Philippines in the FIBA World Cup.
Yanick Moreira and Reggie Moore each added 12 points as Angola enters the classification phase as the third seed in Group D.
Blatche finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds, two assists, one block, and four steals for Gilas Men, which will carry a winless 0-3 record to the classification phase, where Asian rival Iran and Tunisia, which lost, 64-67, to Puerto Rico later Wednesday, await both Gilas Men and Angola.
Iran failed to get a headstart against Gilas Men in the race for the lone outright Olympic slot for Asia after losing to Spain, 73-65.
Both Iran and Gilas Men still have their Olympic dreams alive after China lost to Venezuela, 59-72. (PNA)
