French 5 gets scare from Gilas

MANILA, Philippines - In a gutsy stand that showed its readiness for the coming FIBA World Cup, Gilas Pilipinas gave France, the reigning Euro Cup champ, a big scare before yielding a close 68-75 loss in Day One of the Antibes International Tournament in Antibes, France Friday (early yesterday morning in Manila).

With superb ball rotation and torrid outside shooting, the Nationals gave a good account of themselves against the world’s 8th-ranked team that featured no less than six NBA players, including the Portland Trail Blazers’ upcoming star Nicolas Batum.

“Nice effort tonight vs France,” said Gilas coach Chot Reyes on his Twitter account moments after the game, which they led most of the final half.

The Nationals, riding the crest of three tune-up wins in Miami, Florida and in Vitoria, Spain, led by five, 60-55, early in the fourth quarter and were still within striking distance, 67-70, before making only a single point in the last two minutes of the close match.

Nonetheless, the Nationals showed they are ready for the giants of the world in the coming Spanish joust with their gritty performance against Les Bleus (the French national team), two-time Olympic silver medalists and quarterfinalists in the last World Cup.

It was France’s first match after naming its Final 12 for the world meet set Aug. 30-Sept. 14 in six cities of Spain.

The French had played four previous friendlies, topping Belgium, Croatia and Greece, and losing to Serbia.

Batum led all scorers with 16 points, with 6-foot-11 center Joffrey Lauvergne and 6-foot-6 forward Florent Pietrus adding 12 and 10, respectively, for the French who needed a 20-8 closing run to avoid an upset by the Filipinos.

Gilas banked heavily on a 12-of-29 three-point shooting spree as it pushed France to the limit.

“Almost had it vs France. Proud of our guys for not being intimidated against a top5 team in the world,” said Gilas assistant coach Josh Reyes on his own Twitter account.

“Good first run for us but we got lots to improve on still,” he added.

Naturalized center Andray Blatche and Paul Lee top scored for Gilas with 12 points each while gunners Jeff Chan, Jimmy Alapag and Ranidel de Ocampo combined for 25 markers.

Gilas took the half at 39-35 on back-to-back triples by Chan and still led, 55-52, at the end of the third capped by a buzzer-beating trey by De Ocampo.