Gilas rally falls short vs Poland

MANILA, Philippines -- Almost, but not quite.

Gilas Pilipinas rallied from 14 points down but came up just short against Poland, 82-80, in a friendly tuneup early Sunday morning (Manila time) at the Arena Sosnowiec.

Michael Sokolowski scored 21 points for the Polish, who made 11 of their 24 3-point attempts.

With Poland leading by just two, 58-56, at the end of the third quarter, the home team started the final frame with a 9-0 run capped by an Andrzej Pluta layup to go up by 11, 67-56.

Justin Brownlee halted the run with a deuce, but the Polish started to heat up from way beyond.

Alexander Balcerowksi nailed a booming 3-pointer to make it a 12-point margin, before June Mar Fajardo answered with a jumper to make it 70-60.

Pluta then retaliated with a 3-pointer as Brownlee responded with a deuce.

Jaroslaw Zyskowski then drained a triple to push the lead to the biggest of the night at 14, 76-62.

Brownlee and Dwight Ramos cut into the lead, inching closer to just nine, 76-67, with 4:16 remaining.

Zyskowski though hit a trey over the outstretched arms of Kai Sotto to take a 79-67 edge with four minutes remaining.

With the momentum clearly on Poland’s side, Gilas stormed back.

Ramos tried to tow the Philippines back, cutting the lead to five, 77-82, with a personal eight-point burst at the 1:43 mark of the game.

A miss-and-make from the line by Chris Newsome made it a four-point game, 78-82. On the other end, Balcerowski missed a dagger trey, and Gilas had the chance to make it a one possession game.

The ball found Ramos’ hands, who shot it from way beyond which came up short.

A layup by CJ Perez with 2.3 ticks to go set the final score, as Poland dribbled the time out to end the game.

With the loss, Gilas finished the European leg of their tune-up matches winless as they are set to compete in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Riga, Latvia a few days from now.

They earlier lost against Turkiye, 84-73.

The Philippines will be facing Latvia and Georgia for a chance to make the Olympics.