Manila, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas missed three attempts at the three-point arc in the dying seconds, allowing Angola to escape with an 84-81 triumph in overtime yesterday at the GBA International Sports and Recreation Center.
Joaquin Valdelicio put in a game-high 20 points for the Angolans, who picked up their first win in three games in Group D of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in Foshan, China.
The Angolans will now be given a better seeding than Gilas Pilipinas when they enter the classification stage determining the 17th to 32nd places. The Philippines and Angola will move to Group N in the classification stage and most likely join Iran, one of the two lowest-placed teams in Group C.
Andray Blatche tallied a game-high 12 rebounds and 23 points, including two charities in the last 1:54 to keep Gilas close at 78-80.
But Yanick Moreira, who drilled in12 points and 15 boards for the Angolans, scored on a tip-in in the final 1:07 allowing them to gain a four-point edge, 82-78, which Gerson Domingos padded to five with a freebie, 83-78.
Gilas Pilipinas was still breathing after RR Pogoy’s trey in the ensuing play, 81-83, and a missed Carlos Morais free throw, 84-81.
But Kiefer Ravena’s three-point shot bounced off the rim, allowing the Angolans to escape with the win and the Filipinos to drop their first winnable game in the 32-team World Cup following a 46-point loss to the Italians Saturday and a 59-point setback to the Serbians on Monday.
“We had a chance to win this one,” said coach Yeng Guiao.
CJ Perez struck with 17 points, his triple in the last 33.3 seconds tying the count at 73-all in regulation. He could have won it for Gilas after an Angola turnover, but he took too long to drive for a shot in the final 5.2 seconds as he was forced to take a three-point attempt as the buzzer sounded. He also bungled one of three three-point attempts in the last 39 seconds.
Perez scored 17 points, while fellow rookie Robert Bolick was the only other Filipino in double figures with 10. Pogoy and Ravena had eight apiece.
For the third straight game, shooting was problem for the Filipinos, who shot only 10 of 46 attempts for a woeful 20 percent clip.
But after going 3-for-33 on threes through three-fourths of the way and 0-of-9 in the third alone, the Filipinos suddenly came alive in the final quarter where they sank five of 10 to wipe away an 12-point deficit.
Leading the Gilas’ assault were Japeth Aguilar and RR Pogoy.
Aguilar scored on a putback dunk to highlight a 13-4 run, which Pogoy capped with his first three-pointer of the tournament to give the Filipinos the lead at 67-65, with 3:45 left in regulation.
