BOCAUE, Bulacan – Jordan Clarkson’s early exit in the fourth quarter doomed Gilas Pilipinas. They suffered an 87-81 loss to the Dominican Republic in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup last night at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.
With Dominican Republic holding to a 79-76 with three and a half minutes left in the game, Gilas Pilipinas suffered a huge blow when Clarkson committed his fourth and fifth foul.
The Dominicans took advantage of the situation. Karl-Anthony Towns scored from inside to make it 81-76. Gilas responded with free throws from June Mar Fajardo and AJ Edu to cut it to 79-81.
But a layup by Victor Liz, a split free throw by Lester Quiñones and another inside basket from Jean Montero widened Dominican Republic’s lead to 86-79 with under a minute left in the game.
Towns top-scored for Dominican Republic with double-double 26 points and 10 rebounds. Liz added 18 markers, while Andres Feliz finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in the close win.
Clarkson tallied 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists but committed eight turnovers. Fajardo and Dwight Ramos contributed 16 and 13 markers, respectively, for Gilas Pilipinas.
Ilonggo Kiefer Ravena had a solid performance for the Philippine men’s basketball team in the first half with two points, two assists and a steal but was curiously not sent back in the game by head coach Vincent “Chot” Reyes.
The Philippine men’s basketball team will have a chance to bounce back on Sunday night against Angola at the Smart Araneta Coliseum before they close their group stage matches against Italy on Tuesday.
In the first game, Italy used a fourth quarter breakaway to stave off the gritty Angola. Simone Fontecchio top-scored with 19 points, while Stefano Tonut and Giampallo Ricci added 18 and 12 points, respectively.
Over at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Montenegro scored a lopsided 91-71 victory over Mexico. Nikola Vucevic led the winning team with double-double 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Kendrick Perry and Nikola Ivanovic had 16 and 14, respectively.
Elsewhere, Patrick Mills scored 25 points as Australia dominated Finland, 98-74, while Latvia scored a one-sided 109-70 rout of Lebanon behind the 20-point performance of Dairis Bertans./PN
BOX SCORE:
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 87 – Towns 26, Liz 18, Feliz 12, Delgado 6, Montero 6, Figueroa 5, Pena 5, Vargas 5, Mendoza 2, Quinones 2, Solano 0.
PHILIPPINES 81 – Clarkson 28, Fajardo 16, Ramos 13, Edu 7, Pogoy 6, Thompson 5, Ravena 2, Abando 2, Aguilar 2, Sotto 0, Malonzo 0.
Quarterscores: 22-18, 42-42, 66-64,2 87-81.
