Ukraine rains treys on Blatche-less Gilas

MANILA, Philippines – It will be a long road back to Spain for Gilas Pilipinas after suffering their worst loss, a 50-point blowout to Ukraine, 114-64, Sunday (Monday Manila time) in their final game to bow out without a victory in the 2013 Antibes International Basketball Tournament at the Azur Arena in Antibes, France.

Playing in their third consecutive night against fellow FIBA World Cup-bound teams, Gilas Pilipinas had a rude awakening of what to expect in Seville, Spain.

The Ukrainians, mentored by former NBA coach Mike Fratello, rained treys on the Philippines connecting on 19-of-33 shooting for a whopping 58 percent against the Andray Blatche-less Gilas.

No Andray & Paul today to rest minor injuries

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) August 17, 2014

Gilas coach Chot Reyes opted to rest Blatche (ankle) and Paul Lee (hip) to recover from their minor injuries and it did not help their cause in this game as the Ukrainians simply outclassed the rest of the squad with impeccable outside shooting.  

Marcus Douthit, who filled in for Blatche, typified Gilas’ struggle with 1-of-7 shooting but did grab eight rebounds.

The rest of the team shot just 33 percent from the field while turning the ball over 22 times which Ukraine pounded to the hilt.

Gilas was just trailing by five, 21-16, in the opening quarter but the taller and hot-shooting Ukrainians started to catch fire in the second period outscoring the Filipinos, 40-19.  The lead swelled in the second half and Fratello did not even bother to insert their naturalized player Eugene “Pooh” Jeter back into the game. 

It was the second straight win for Ukraine to finish the pocket tournament with a 2-1 win-loss record after beating France, 63-56, last Saturday.

Gilas, on the other hand, continued to plummet after a solid showing in their opening game, nearly against France (75-68 loss). They fell to Aussies, 97-75, before this game.

Related story: Chot hopes Gilas to bounce back after big setback

Oleksander Lypovvy paced Ukraine with 16 points while Gilas drew 11 and 10 from Ranidel de Ocampo and Jeff Chan, respectively.

Reyes later posted a cryptic message on his Twitter account shortly after their uninspired performance.

We needed that

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) August 17, 2014

The game will be televised 8 pm Monday on TV5.

Gilas will fly back to Spain to play another series of tuneup games starting with Euskadi in San Sebastian on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) and will be broadcasted by TV5 8pm on Thursday Manila time.  

Read also: Gilas give Euro champ France big scare in close loss