Sloppiness defined Gilas Pilipinas in their debut match of the 2017 William Jones Cup, as they bowed to a taller 3D Canada Global Sports side, 90-77, Saturday afternoon at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium in Taiwan.
Kiefer Ravena led the Philippines with 12 points, five rebounds, three steals, and three assists. Ray Parks, Jr. chipped in 11 markers and also five boards, while Carl Cruz supplied 10 points spiked by two three-pointers.
Gilas even took a 20-19 lead at the end of the first frame, but as soon as Canada found their groove on offense, they were hard to stop.
The Canadians erupted with a 20-8 run for a 44-34 lead at the half, powered by six points each from Garrett Williamson and Connor Wood.
Things then turned for the worse for the Filipinos afterwards.
The Canadians never showed signs of slowing down in the next half, even inflating their cushion to as much as 17, 77-60, after a pair of charities from Joey Haywood with 6:22 left to play. The young Cadets then never had any chance to pose a serious threat to their counterparts afterwards.
Import Mike Myers and Christian Standhardinger both flirted with double-doubles in the loss. The New Jersey native scored nine and grabbed nine rebounds, while the Filipino-German big man had nine and 10.
Garrett Williamson paced the Canadian team’s balanced attack with 15 points. Haywood, Deigo Kapelan, and Michale Kyser produced 12 markers apiece.
Gilas inadvertently committed 22 turnovers, with 16 coming from the first half alone. Fouls were also a problem for the Nationals, as they heard the whistle blow at them 26 times.
The Filipinos will try to bounce back tomorrow, Sunday, July 16, but another tall hurdle will be in front of them once more as they will take on the hosts Chinese Taipei-A at 7:00 in the evening.
The Scores:
3D Canada (90) – Williamson 15, Haywood 12, Kapelan 12, Kyser 12, Wood 9, Smith 9, Friesen 8, Sutherland 5, Keith 4, Morgan 2, Bachynski 2.
Gilas (77) – Ravena 12, Parks 11, Cruz 10, Wright 9, Standhardinger 9, Myers 7, Jalalon 5, Paras 4, Pogoy 4, Belo 3, Ferrer 3, Jose 0.
Quarterscores: 19-20, 44-34, 66-54, 90-77.
