Daring Gilas shocks and awes Les Bleus

But nationals yield to miscues, rivals’ firepower 

MANILA, Philippines – It was one defeat that had all the trimmings of a win.

Gilas Pilipinas held its own against world No. 5 Team France with a swashbuckling first 20 minutes only to succumb to their rivals’ superior firepower and experience and absorbed an 84-93 loss in the opener of the FIBA Manila Olympic Qualifying Tournament before a roaring crowd of more than 20,000 at the MOA Arena last night.

Still, Gilas literally wore the face of a victor for the gallant stand they put up against one of Europe’s cage powers and gave the team the kind of morale boost it would need in its do-or-die with Team New Zealand at 9 p.m. today, also at the Pasay venue.

“France didn’t panic. They pounded us. We had too many turnovers and France did a good job forcing us into those turnovers,” said Gilas coach Tab Baldwin.

“Maybe tomorrow (today) we have to take care of the ball a lot better,” said Gilas ace guard Jayson Castro.

For the first 20 minutes, Gilas Pilipinas dished out all the best in it – heart, passion, courage and desire – as it matched Les Bleus shot-for-shot, rebound-for-rebound and hustle-for-hustle in an awesome display of the Filipinos’ brand of basketball fired up by the presence of President Duterte and a never-ending cheer from its “Sixth Man.”

Before the tourney, Baldwin insisted they should have no room for mistake against their powerhouse rivals in the meet.

The Nationals were still within striking distance at 81-87 when Castro missed a runner then Troy Rosario committed a passing error which Les Bleus translated into baskets to make it 91-81 with a little over a minute left to play.

A closing 8-3 binge by France put it beyond recall and defused all hopes for a Gilas reversal, disappointing the Filipino fans.

EuroBasket Mythical Selection awardee Nando de Colo and San Antonio Spurs star guard Parker dealt the Filipinos the biggest damage with 27 and 21 points, respectively.

Parker went 7-of-13 from the field and also collected six assists, four rebounds and one steal in 29:41 minutes of action in the match that drew a number of VIPs including SBP president and MVP Group top boss Manny V. Pangilinan, SMC president Ramon S. Ang, Sen. Allan Peter Cayetano and Rep. Mikee Romero.

“Tony Parker was a handful,” said Baldwin of the French star who proved too hot to handle for the Filipinos.

Castro and Terrence Romeo actually had decent stand against Parker with the Gilas playmakers combining for 34 points to back up Andray Blatche with his 21 markers.

Parker and the rest of Les Bleus, however, proved too tough to match with their remarkable 54-percent field shooting, hardly missing open shots.

Gilas could only hit at a 41-percent clip on 29-of-70 shooting.

Still, France took some time to take control of the game.

In the first two periods, Gilas Pilipinas played as if it was ranked better than No. 28 in the world behind the heroics of naturalized player Andray Blatche and a bunch of Filipino starters and rattled the Tony Parker-led Les Bleus to keep the initiative through and even led by as many as 10 points at 30-20 on two foul shots by Jayson Castro off Kim Tillie with 23.9 seconds left in the first quarter.

But Les Bleus methodically got back into the game behind crisp outside shooting of Nando de Colo and post-up plays of Boris Diaw and the Frenchmen eventually caught up at the close of the half.

Gilas got to a 17-9 start and stayed in control up to the last two minutes of the first half with a 41-37 lead.

Blatche got the crowd up on their feet early with 12 points on their 17-9 start.

He stole off Joffrey Lauvergne and scored on a breakaway jam to break the ice, then drained his first three-point attempt in a strong start in the contest.

But from the 17-9 count, the French held Blatche in check on the way to grabbing the lead at 45-41 with six seconds left in the second quarter.

Terrence Romeo beat the buzzer with a perimeter jumper to cut their deficit to two at the half.

Blatche, Romeo and Jeff Chan combined for four three-pointers to highlight Gilas’ domination of the first quarter ending at 30-22 in their favor.

Parker, Diaw and Antoine Diot teamed up in a decisive 14-4 run to get France ahead from a 31-39 deficit.