FIBA Africa champ Angola survives hard-fighting Gilas

MANILA, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas coach Chot Reyes spoke about Ninoy Aquino’s death anniversary with his famous line: “The Filipinos are worth dying for” before the game.

The national team took it to heart and kept in step with the African champions before losing steam in a 74-83 loss to Angola Friday (Manila time) in San Sebastian, Spain one week before the FIBA World Cup tips offs.

Buoyed up by Reyes’ inspiring pre-game talk, Gilas went off to a solid start before the Angolans settled down and tied the game at 17-all. It took a good five minute stretch for Angola, ranked 15^th in the world, to pull away in the second quarter, according to Gilas team manager Aboy Castro.

Gilas Pilipinas even led by nine, 26-17, before the Angolans took the lead for good, 43-34, at the half.

Naturalized center Andray Blatche celebrated his birthday (Aug. 22) with a huge game leading Gilas’ with 33 points and 17 rebounds in solid 31 minutes of play but still were not enough to lift them to victory.

Despite their fifth straight loss in the tuneup series dubbed “Gilas Pilipinas vs the world”, Gilas Pilipinas played one of their better games.

“Kulang pa tayo sa experience at the world level. Close to 40 years tayo nawala. Kaya kailangan matuto kaagad tayo sa mga tuneup games na ito,” Ranidel de Ocampo was quoted saying after the game. 

They were still in the game after a 9-0 run to open the fourth quarter brought them within five, 59-64, but the Angolans answered back with eight straight points keeping Gilas at bay. 

After a string of setbacks, Gilas finally took a giant stride in terms of their preparation for the FIBA World Cup. Looking beyond the result, there were a lot of positives drawn in this game, according to Castro.

“Paul [Lee] played 15 minutes and did not feel any pain. [Our] man to man offense was very efficient that they had to zone us. Ball screen defense has already improved,” Castro told Philstar.com in a text message sent after the game.

Lee finally got the green light to play after missing two games due to glutes (lower back to hamstring) injury. He finished with two points, his lowest output since joining the national team. Jayson Castro, meanwhile, sat out with a protective boot on his left foot after hurting his Achilles in their 66-75 loss to Euskadi and is listed as day-to-day.  

Gilas drew nine points from De Ocampo followed by Gabe Norwood’s seven points, six each from Jimmy Alapag and Jeff Chan while Japeth Aguilar and LA Tenorio chipped in four points apiece.

“We’re just learning to play at this level. Give us a few years, maybe even just few more months, tatalunin natin itong mga ito. Remember, ganito din tayo from 2007-2010. We were learning to play at the Asian level after having been suspended for the longest time,” Castro added.

The game will be aired on TV5 12:30 pm Saturday.

Gilas will head to Guadalajara, Spain to take on Dominican Republic on Saturday and Egypt on Monday.

Dominican Republic is coming off a 62-105 loss at the hands of the defending world champion USA. Egypt, on the other hand, earned a spot in the FIBA World Cup after beating Senegal (70-63) in the semifinals before losing to Angola(40-57) in the finals of the FIBA Africa championships.