MANILA – Gilas Pilipinas hopes to barge into the classification round of the 2019 FIBA World Cup on a winning note. It faces Angola today at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center in Foshan, China.
The match is slated at 3:30 p.m. The national men’s basketball team and Angola will aims for their first win to close out the Group D matches after losing the first two games.
Gilas Pilipinas suffered yet another harrowing defeat on Monday evening. It was obliterated by Serbia, 126-67, despite the national men’s basketball team showing some poise early in the game.
Just like in its lopsided loss to Italy on Saturday, PBA rookie Jaymar Perez was again the silver lining for the national team. He tallied 16 points. Paul Lee contributed 15 markers.
June Mar Fajardo had a limited impact with eight points. Naturalized center Andray Blatche was again a disappointment after producing just five points.
Japeth Aguilar and Ilonggo Kiefer
Ravena did not help Gilas’ cause with their turnovers.
“Serbia is just too good, too big,” Guiao said. “We’ve been playing Asian level
basketball, we’ve been competing. But of course, the world level is different —
several notches different.”
After this afternoon’s match, Group D cast-outs Philippines and Angola are set to travel to Beijing for the classification round on Sept. 6 and 8 at the Wukesong Sports Arena against the bottom two teams from Group C.
As of Monday’s matches, Spain was on top in Group C with 2-0 win-loss record, while Puerto Rico and Tunisia both have 1-1 win-loss slate. Iran is at the bottom with a 0-2 card./PN
