Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 figured in a disaster in Singapore.
A year after making the semifinals of the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup, the Philippine Men’s 3×3 Basketball National Team could not replicate the feat. They bowed out in the pool stages after falling to a three-man Qatar team, 18-21 (9:52.1), Friday at the Singapore Sports Hub OCBC Square.
Gilas fell to Iran, 11-14, earlier in the day that made this contest a do-or-die tilt.
Almond Vosotros and Gilas 3×3 simply flamed out late in the late stages of the game following an attempt at a huge comeback.
Trailing 7-14 early, Gilas 3×3 were able to tie that game at 18-all after back-to-back baskets by Vosotros and Jorey Napoles with 38 seconds remaining.
However, the hulking Souley Ndour knocked down a booming deuce nine seconds later to put Qatar up.
A miss by Napoles from deep resulted in him fouling on the other end.
With Qatar at match point, Ndour calmly knocked down the free throw that put a nail in the coffin of the Philippines’ campaign.
Ndour wound up with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Mohammed Abbasher added five points, while Nedim Muslic chipped in three points and seven rebounds.
After putting up just four points against Iran, Vosotros – the scoring champion of PBA 3×3 – bounced back with a nine-point outing. He shot just 5-of-16 from the field.
Samboy De Leon and Napoles got five and three points, respectively.
Iran (2-0) and Qatar (1-1) are the teams advancing out of Pool D. Both are lower-ranked teams compared to Gilas.
The Scores:
Philippines 18 – Vosotros 9, De Leon 5, Napoles 3, Bates 1.
Qatar 21 – Ndour 13, Abbasher 5, Muslic 3.
