Photo credit: FIBA | fiba.basketball
World No. 40 Gilas Pilipinas Men (0-3) suffered another heartbreaking 83-90 loss in their last group phase round game of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Group A against world No. 10 Italy (2-1) on Tuesday, August 29th, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. [VIDEO]
After a fiery opening quarter where Gilas Pilipinas took the lead with a score of 23-20, the team faced a turnaround as Italy's hot-shooting performance led them to outscore Gilas with a 28-16 run in the second frame. In the fourth quarter, Gilas had a strong 23-17 run, but it wasn't enough to beat the Azzurri. The Italians advance to the second round along with Group A leader, the Dominican Republic.
Six Azzurri players scored in double digits, with Simone Fontecchio leading the way with 18 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and a steal. Giampaolo Ricci has a solid game of 14 points (4/6 3pts) to go with 2 rebounds, and 1 assist while Marco Spissu had a near double-double of 13 points (4/7 3pts), along with 4 rebounds, a game-high 9 assists, and 2 steals.
Gilas shot 46% from the field (30/65fg), including 10-of-29 shooting from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Italy had 29 out of 64 field goals and made 17 out of 41 attempts from three-point range. Gilas went 13 out of 18 from the free-throw line, while the Italians made 15 out of 17 free throws.
Gilas Pilipinas failed to advance to the second round with a 0-3 win-loss record in the group phase, and will be relegated to the classification round on August 31 against the #3 team in Group B. Then, on September 2, they will compete against the #4 team in Group B. All of these matches will take place at the Araneta Coliseum. Nevertheless, Gilas remains in contention for a place in the 2024 Summer Olympics in France.
The scores:
ITALY 90 - Fotecchio 18, Ricci 14, Spissu 13, Tonut 13, Pajola 11, Melli 10, Polonara 6, Datome 5, Severni 0, Diouf 0, Procida 0, Spagnolo 0.
PHILIPPINES 83 - Clarkson 23, Ramos 14, Pogoy 9, Abando 8, Edu 8, Ravena 8, Malonzo 7, Fajardo 4, Sotto 2, Aguilar 0, Perez 0, Thompson 0.
Quarters: 20-23, 48-39, 73-60, 90-83. [GAME HIGHLIGHTS] | [GAME STATS]
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