Gilas falls to Dominican Republic to close winless FIBA OQT campaign

Gilas Pilipinas will miss the bus heading to Tokyo Olympics.

The proud young Filipinos fought hard before a third quarter collapse that ultimately doomed their hopes against a tough Dominican Republic team, 94-67, in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Belgrade, Serbia early Friday morning (Manila time).

Gilas struggled in the third period, where they were outscored, 26-10, to fall behind by double-digits.

Jordan Heading led Gilas with 16 points, highlighted by 4-of-6 from deep,  to go along with three assists while naturalized big man Ange Kouame chipped in 10 markers and six rebounds in the loss.

With the defeat, the nationals have officially ended their campaign for this year’s Summer Games as they have already endured a 76-83 beating to World No. 5 Serbia on Thursday.

The game started off close with the first quarter ending with Dominican Republic slightly ahead, 23-22.

Gilas threatened to pull away after going on an 11-2 run to take an eight-point lead, 33-25.

The Dominican Republic countered thanks to back-to-back layup from Mike Torres Cuevas and Victor Liz hit some late three-pointers, including one to beat the halftime buzzer with the Philippines' lead slashed down to just two, 41-39.

Heading hit three three-pointers to lead the Filipinos with nine halftime points while SJ Belangel entered the break with seven assists – six of those coming in the second quarter where he scored or assisted on all seven of Gilas’ field goals.

The Domincans came out of the break a different team, though, as they quickly reclaimed the lead, 47-45, after an 8-2 run.

Though Kouame tried his best to keep his team in the game with six of Gilas’ 10 points in the period, there wasn’t much they could do to keep Dominican Republic at bay as the Philippines went scoreless over the last four minutes of the quarter.

A Belangel floater at the 4:30 mark proved to be the last points they would score in the third as the Dominicans rattled off 12 straight points to finish the quarter comfortably ahead, 65-51.

It wasn’t much better in the fourth as the American team opened with a 12-2 run capped by another Liz three-pointer – his fifth of the game – that made it a 24-point game, 77-53.

Liz finished with 23 points, including 5-for-6 shooting from three, to lead Dominican Republic.

Gelvis Solano added 21 points and five assists while Torres Cuevas added 20 points and six assists.

They will advance to the knockout rounds of the Belgrade venue of the Olympic qualifiers, where they fill face Group B leader Italy. Host Serbia, which swept its Group A games, will take on Puerto Rico in the other matchup.

Aside from Heading and Kouame, Gilas also got solid performances teen prodigy Kai Sotto, who finished with eight points and four rebounds. Belangel, meanwhile, scored just six points but finished with a game-high 10 assists.

The Philippines will go back to the drawing board and begin preparations for the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup in August in Indonesia.

The scores:
Dominican Republic (94) – Liz 23, Solano 21, Torres Cuevas 20, Nunez Castillo 13, Ramirez 5, Araujo 4, Rojas 4, Mendoza 2, Henriquez 0, Martinez 0, Sarita 0.

Gilas Pilipinas (67) – Heading 16, Kouame 10, Sotto 8, Abarrientos 6, Belangel 6, Navarro 6, Baltazar 5, Tamayo 5, Nieto 4, Go 1, Chiu 0.

Quarterscores: 23-22, 39-41, 65-51, 94-67.

—Bea Micaller/JMB, GMA News