Gilas Pilipinas missed its last chance to qualify to the quarterfinals, bowing to Japan, 102-81,
Tuesday evening in the playoffs of the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Indonesia.
Torrid outside shooting, to go with the double-digit outputs from Yuka Togashi and his four teammates did the trick for Japan.
Togashi knocked in 18 points, including one of three triples as the Japanese pulled away from a 5-all deadlock in the first quarter, took a 19-7 spread, and an 18-point lead near the end of the period off Tenketsu Harimoto’s putback, 32-14.
Luke Evans shot 17 points, while Yudai Nishida and Yuta Watanabe added 15.
Watanabe’s jumper in the last three seconds of the second period widened their advantage to 16.
The Filipinos managed to cut down the Japanese side’s lead in the third period, but the Nishida kept his squad’s lead up by 14 in the final eight seconds with his triple, 77-63.
Bobby Ray Parks led the Filipinos with 16 points, while Kiefer Ravena banged in 15.
Japan advanced to the quarterfinals and will clash with Australia on Thursday.
“The result was not what we wanted. Sorry that we disappointed a lot of our countrymen. Like I said, we brought a very young team. The experience is just going to make them better,” said Gilas coach Chot Reyes.