The 41st-ranked Angola showed the 40th-ranked Gilas that they were a force to be reckoned with.
FIBA World Cup hosts Gilas Pilipinas may be saying goodbye to its chances of advancing to the next round of the global hoops summit as the national team fell at the hands of Angola on Sunday, 80-70.
Namesakes Gerson Goncalves and Gerson Domingos led the scoring spree for the Angolans, scoring 17 and 15 points, respectively. But they had solid help, as Atlanta Hawks big man Bruno Fernando alongside frontcourt mates Jilson Bango and Silvio De Sousa did the dirty work at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Fernando set the tone for the Africans with 14 markers and 7 boards. It was the attention he commanded in the post that made thing easier for his teammates. Bango, who had 6 offensive rebounds, moved in the paint at will to score 10 points. De Souza played a limited 10 minutes, but still made his presence felt with 10 markers and 5 caroms.
The Philippine men's national basketball team actually started strong, relying on a balanced attack that was jumpstarted by RR Pogoy's back-to-back baskets in the opening quarter.
Jordan Clarkson drilled a 3-pointer for his first basket, and then Kai Sotto followed suit with an impressive running skyhook in the middle of the lane. Cjay Perez knocked down a tip-in and free throws to push the lead to seven at the end of the opening frame.
Gilas pushed the lead to 11 points three minutes into the second quarter. Pogoy poured in another jump shot while AJ Edu completed a roaring putback dunk for a 28-17 score tally.
Since that point, however, Angola turned the tide and mounted a 19-5 run, led by the emphatic play of Fernando. The Africans took a 36-33 lead at the half.
The Josep Carlos-mentored squad kept stepping on the gas pedal come the third canto, but Dwight Ramos and Kiefer Ravena each created their own baskets to augment Clarkson’s production and keep things close.
The Fernando-Bango-De Souza trio continued to make things hard for Gilas in the paint, at one point mounting a 6-0 run for their team. Despite Jordan Clarkson’s 10-point quarter, Gilas trailed by four heading into the final frame, 56-52.
Goncalves and Domingos delivered key baskets for the Africans to push the lead into double digits in the fourth, leading by as many as 16 with less than four minutes remaining in the game.
Clarkson, Edu, Sotto, and bench spark Rhenz Abando ignited a late 11-0 run by the hometown ballers, but a clutch Domingos trey sealed the deal to the disappointment of 12,784 fans who attended the game.
JC led Gilas with 21 points. Edu had 9 points and 6 boards, while Ramos, Pogoy, and Sotto each had 8. The team shot 37.5% from the field and gave up 20 offensive rebounds, both proved to be the biggest pain points for the squad.
Gilas, who finds its chances to advance to the Round of 16 slimmer than ever, will need to win on Tuesday, August 29, against world no. 10 Italy.