MANILA – The national men’s basketball team suffered an 83-76 defeat to Serbia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament on Wednesday night (Thursday in the Philippines) at the Belgrade Arena in Belgrade, Serbia.
Trailing by 16 points, Gilas Pilipinas relied on a strong third-quarter showing to come to within 67-62 before forcing a deadlock at 67-all in the fourth period.
Serbia regained the upperhand at 73-69, but Gilas took the lead for the first time at 74-73 on a triple by Jordan Heading and a layup by Rhon Jay Abarrientos with over four minutes left.
Serbia quickly responded with back-to-back inside hits from 7-foot-3 center Boban Marjanovic to score 77-74, which Gilas trimmed to 76-77 on a basket by Justine Baltazar.
Gilas got the chance to seize the lead following missed baskets by the foes, but Angelo Kouame, Samjosef Belangel, and Baltazar opted for three-point tries, which all did not go in.
Perimeter shot by Marjanovic earned Serbia an 81-76 advantage with 36 seconds remaining. Danilo Andjusic sealed the win for the home team with his two free throws.
Marjanovic, who plays for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA, finished the game with a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds, while Ognjen Doboric grabbed 16 markers for Serbia.
Milos Teodosic chipped in 13 points, while Andjusic contributed 12 points for Serbia, which secured a seat to the crossover semifinals with its 2-0 slate.
Kouame led the Gilas Pilipinas offense with 17 points, Jordan Heading tallied 15 markers, while Baltazar and Kai Sotto scored 10 points apiece.
While the seven-point defeat was more impressive than the PBA-led Philippine team’s 60-point loss to Serbia two years ago, Gilas head coach Thomas Baldwin was not happy with the outcome for his developing crew.
“A lot of people will look at this as some sort of moral victory. I’ve been in this game for such a long time, and I just don’t believe in those,” Baldwin said.
“We had chances late. We missed good open looks. They would have put Serbia under even more pressure than they were under late in the game,” he added.
The national men’s basketball team is in a must-win situation on Thursday night (Friday morning in the Philippines) against the Dominican Republic to keep their semifinal hopes alive.
BOX SCORE:
SERBIA 83 – Marjanovic 25, Dobric 16, Teodosic 13, Andjusic 12, Petrusev 8, Davidovac 5, Milosavljevic 2, Jovic 2, Avramovic 0.
PHILIPPINES 76 – Kouame 17, Heading 13, Sotto 10, Baltazar 10, Abarrientos 9, Tamayo 5, Navarro 4, Go 4, Belangel 2, Nieto 2.
QUARTERSCORES:
22-16, 45-34, 67-62, 83-76./PN
