Gilas nearly slays giant

High grade in Belgrade

MANILA, Philippines — There was a mix of emotions in the Gilas Pilipinas camp after yielding a close 76-83 loss to heavy favorite Serbia in their opening encounter in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade early yesterday.

It had a feel-good vibe for a “green” team that exceeded expectations and engaged the fancied Rio Games silver medalists in a tight Group A contest at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall.

Then there’s also the feeling of disappointment for the Gilas young guns, who could have actually completed the upset if not for a dry spell in the last 3:50.

“We feel good because we got a close game against a very good Serbian team but at the same time, there’s such a frustration that there’s so much we could have done, some guys felt they should have hit certain shots,” said skipper Isaac Go.

The fired-up Pinoy dribblers hope to sustain such a high level of performance when they clash for a semifinal seat with the Dominican Republic (also 0-1) today at 2:30 a.m. (Manila time).

“We have to get ourselves ready because this is a tough game. It will take a lot out of the players both physically and mentally especially with the quick turnaround,” said Gilas coach Tab Baldwin, whose team had 24 hours to shift focus to the 19th ranked Dominicans.

After trailing the Serbians by as many as 16, the never-say-die Filipinos clawed their way back and even took a 74-73 lead on an RJ Abarrientos layup.

But towering Boban Marjanovic punched in eight of his game-high 25 in a searing 10-2 windup that allowed the Serbians to escape the blushes.

“This shows we’re all resilient. A lot of people weren’t expecting us to even be in such a close game. At the same time, as basketball players we want to win and we believe we can compete with these guys,” said Go.

Ange Kouame led Gilas with 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists and three blocks in their baptism of fire against the World No. 5 Serbians.

Jordan Heading shot 13 spiked by a 4-of-5 shooting from deep while Kai Sotto posted 10-5-2 as the youngsters acquitted themselves well against a power that previously handed the Philippines a 126-67 beating in the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

“A lot of people will look at this game as a sort of moral victory. But I’ve been in this game for such a long time I just didn’t believe in this,” said Baldwin.

“We had chances late, we had good open looks that would have put Serbia under even more pressure than they were under later in the game.”

But overall, Baldwin is pretty satisfied with his wards’ efforts.

“We could have played better but certainly the flow of the game was very competitive and we just put in a great effort. Apart from a little bit of composure late, I thought we answered most of the questions that were asked of us by Serbia,” said Baldwin.

With a sweep, Serbia (2-0) advanced to the crossover semis while leaving Gilas and the Dominicans to dispute the other berth in the Last-4, where Italy or Puerto Rico from Group B awaits.

Notes: Serbian coach Igor Kokoskov, who decided to rest Nemanja Bjelica, Nikola Kalinic and Vasileje Micic, gave props to gritty Gilas. “They played really well, they played as a unit and coach Tab is doing an awesome job.”...Injured Gilas guard Dwight Ramos (groin) is still unlikely to play against Dominican Republic, per coach Tab Baldwin. “He can’t play right now and certainly we’re not going to rush it.”