The losses continue to mount for Gilas Pilipinas, and the frustrations of repeatedly losing winnable games are finally taking their toll on the players.
On Thursday night, the Philippines suffered its fourth consecutive loss, once again crumbling in the endgame with a score of 87-68 against South Sudan in the classification phase of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
“Obviously, we’re trying our best everyday. Sa practice, sa game, medyo frustrating syempre na hindi namin nakukuha yung panalo, especially sa harap ng home crowd,” said Kai Sotto, who made a massive impact defensively in the loss.
“Kung nadidisappoint yung mga fans, pano pa kaya yung mga players na nagpapakahirap sa court at nagpapakahirap before this,” he added.
The Philippines started the game on the wrong foot, trailing by as much as 13 points as the Bright Stars launched a 16-3 run in the opening quarter, resulting in a total of 34 points scored by them in that period alone.
South Sudan extended their lead to as much as 21 points before Gilas Pilipinas finally regrouped and, as they did in their previous three games, made a last-ditch attempt to secure victory. Sotto scored off a lob from AJ Edu, bringing the Philippines within four points at 56-60 with 7:28 left in the fourth quarter.
Regrettably, their efforts fell short as the Bright Stars mounted a 26-12 finishing surge that ultimately dashed the Filipinos’ hopes of securing a direct slot in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.
With one game remaining in their schedule, Gilas Pilipinas’ head coach, Chot Reyes, and the rest of the coaching staff face the daunting task of refocusing their players for the upcoming match against their Asian rival, China.
“Obviously, very, very down. There’s nothing else we can say. The morale is really low. Our job now is to get everyone ready for the next game and that has to start with our mindset and our emotional… heart as well,” he stated.
“The only thing that we can do now is just to focus on the next game. There’s one more game to be played and we’ll prepare as well as we can to again put up a fight against China on Saturday.”
