August 28 ------ THE hopes of Gilas Pilipinas of advancing to the second round of the 2023 Fiba Basketball World Cup suffered a major setback after losing to Angola, 80-70, on Sunday night at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.
The Philippines failed to sustain an 11-point second-quarter lead as Angola turned heavily to the outside shooting of Gerson Goncalves in the second half to drop the host to the bottom of Group A with a 0-2 win-loss record. Gilas simply had no answer as the hosts struggled to hit their shots to the disappointment of a packed crowd at the Big Dome. Gilas launched one last-ditch run that was dampened by a three-pointer by Gerson Domingos with 47.5 seconds left, giving Angola a 76-68 lead.
Despite the loss, Gilas remains in contention for a berth in the second round, but it's fate is no longer in its hands. The Philippines must win over Italy on Tuesday, then hope that Angola loses to Dominican Republic on the same day. The three-way tie for second place will then be broken through the quotient system where the winning margin of their games against each other determine the second and final team from Group A to advance to the next phase.
Dominican Republic, which earlier in the day stunned Italy, advanced to the second round with Angola and Italy occupying the share of second with a 1-1 mark.
Source: spin.ph
Editor's Note:
Here are results for Day 3 of the Fiba World Cup:
Italy, 82 - Dominican Republic 87
Australia, 82 - Germany 85
Montenegro, 89 - Egypt 74
Lebanon, 73 - Canada 128
Philippines, 70 - Angola 80
Japan, 98 - Finland 88
Lithuania, 96 - Mexico 66
France, 88 - Latvia 86
Comments