HONG KONG — Gilas Pilipinas endured one of its most embarrassing results in recent memory: an 80-70 upset at the hands of Angola in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.
Trailing by only 56-52 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Gilas had no response to the Black Antelopes’ 17-4 run, culminating in Silvio de Sousa’s free throw with 3:39 remaining in the contest.
Chot Reyes’ men managed to narrow the deficit to 73-68, courtesy of two Kai Sotto free throws with 1:12 left, but it was a case of too little, too late.
“We let that one slip.
“It’s really tough to compete. Like what I said earlier, if you’re down 7-8 points with two minutes to go, it’s really tough. At the end of the day, we gave ourselves a shot of coming back especially with Rhenz (Abando) coming in during that last stretch. He gave us a lot of energy but we came up short,” lamented Kiefer Ravena.
“We need to prepare, recover and forget about this and prepare for Italy,” he continued.
Ravena is one of the holdovers from the 2019 Gilas squad that also fell to Angola.
Japeth Aguilar, Roger Pogoy, and San Miguel Beermen duo CJ Perez and Jun Mar Fajardo were part of that squad.
Despite keeping the game close, Yeng Guiao’s Gilas eventually succumbed 84-81 in overtime.
There were hopes that some past disappointments would be overcome tonight, but instead, the outcome has thrown the Philippines’ aspirations of advancing to the World Cup knockouts and the 2024 Summer Olympics into disarray.
(C) FIBA.basketball
“With three to four players from that 2019 team, along with some players who participated in the 2019 World Cup, watching today, it’s disappointing because we really wanted to make up for them,” expressed Ravena, who was also part of that
“That was part of the motivation — to bounce back for those players who gave their all during the 2019 World Cup.”
After two demoralizing defeats, Gilas needs a victory against Italy this Tuesday to keep their faint hopes alive of reaching the knockout stage.
The Azzurri will be determined to win after suffering an upset themselves at the hands of the Dominican Republic, setting up another challenging match for Gilas.
“Once again, as I mentioned, we need to concentrate on the present, which is preparing for Italy. We can’t afford to be emotional at this point. We have one more game left to focus on,” stated the Shiga guard.
“Yun lang. Sayang lang pero kailangan bumawi ulit.”
