Gilas ends Asian Games gold repeat bid after 44-point beating vs China
MANILA, Philippines — Champions dethroned.
Defending champion Gilas Pilipinas failed to reach the quarterfinal round of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games after suffering a 44-point defeat against China, 105-61, Monday afternoon at the Aichi International Arena in Japan.
A 37-point loss still would have given Gilas a ticket to the next round, but China vented its ire on the Philippines in this year’s Asiad, mounting a 36-point lead at the half and never looked back.
The Chinese started off the game waxing hot, turning a slim 16-11 lead to a 36-16 advantage at the end of the first.
They turned things up a notch, keeping their foot on the gas pedal.
Until the very end, the Chinese continued to pour the offense in and defend hard as they simply did not allow Gilas to creep closer despite repeated 3-point attempts by Jerrick Ahanmisi, Calvin Oftana, Robert Bolick and Justine Baltazar.
Junjie Wang paced China with 20 points, to go with 14 rebounds and three assists. Sanning Liao had 14 markers and four boards, while Mingxuan Hu had 13 points. Boqiao Jiao and Li Yuezhao finished with 11 points each, while Jinqiu Hu and Yongxi Cui added 10 apiece.
Only Oftana finished in double digits for Gilas with 13 points, while Sedrick Barefield had nine points and four assists.
With the result, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are heading to the quarterfinal round. The former had a point difference of -5, while the latter had a -11 point margin.
Gilas thus finished this year’s Asian Games with a 1-2 win-loss record.
The squad fell in heartbreak fashion against Bahrain, 89-85, before bouncing back with a 109-78 rout of Kazakhstan.
But the +27 point difference was not enough against the unstoppable China, which finished the group phase with a 3-0 record.
Three years ago, the Philippines won its first Asian Games men’s basketball gold medal in 61 years. Back in Hangzhou, Gilas, led by Justin Brownlee, eliminated China in the semifinal round.
This is the first time the Gilas program did not reach the quarterfinal round of the Asiad.
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