Gilas Pilipinas 3×3’s stand against a young China fell short, bowing 18-20, in the bronze medal match of the 2022 FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup, Sunday in Singapore.
The Philippines were blown out of China in the pool phase. But this time around, they gave a fight.
Trailing 7-3 early, Gilas went on a methodical rally behind Almond Vosotros, eventually tying things up at 15-all.
Zhao Jiaren and Liu Zeyi powered China to a 4-1 spurt with the latter putting Team Dragons to match point, 20-16, with 40 seconds remaining.
Lervin Flores scored on a rainbow deuce to pump life to Gilas while Samboy De Leon made the stops.
Miss by Zhao and Liu led to Joseph Eriobu tapping the ball towards Vosotros with only a couple of seconds left. However, Vosotros’ attempt fell short as the Philippines has yet to medal in the continental meet.
Liu led China with nine points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field. Zhao added six markers.
Vosotros was once again the high point man of Gilas with eight points while Eriobu added five.
The Scores:
Philippines 18 – Vosotros 8, Eriobu 5, Flores 3, De Leon 2.
China 20 – Liu 9, Zhao JR 6, Lyu 4, Zhao JY 1.
