Gilas bows to red-hot Tunisia

MANILA, Philippines — For the second time in three days, a team from Africa spoiled what’s eyed as Gilas Pilipinas’ shining moment in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China.

Not long since Angola kept the Nationals winless at the end of the first round, hot-starting Tunisia extended Gilas’ woes with a wire-to-wire 86-67 romp in their Group N classification matchup last night at Beijing’s Wukesong Sport Arena.

With four defeats now dating back to the first round, the Filipinos all but kissed their bid goodbye in the de facto race among Asians for that lone slot to the Tokyo Olympics.

Now all coach Yeng Guiao and his charges can do for the remainder of the basketball showpiece is to give it a feel-good ending by beating Asian rival Iran tomorrow.

Andray Blatche banged in 24 points and added 11 rebounds and two assists for Gilas, which couldn’t recover from Tunisia’s fiery 14-3 start.

The reigning AfroBasket champ came out firing against Gilas with 7-foot-1 Dallas Maverick Salah Mejri teaming up with 6-foot-2 guard Omar Abada and 6-foot-5 guard Michael Roll in ripping the game apart, 27-10.

The Eagles of Cartage continued to swoop down on hapless Gilas, widening the gap to as many as 28 at 67-39 en route to their second win in the tournament.

Abada led five players in double figures for Tunisia with 16 on a 6-of-10 field goal shooting.

It’s been a real bumpy ride for Gilas Pilipinas in its second straight appearance in the World Cup.

The Pinoy cagers got off to a horror opening in first-round action over in Foshan, losing to hot-shooting Italy by 46 points.

They improved somehow on Day Two but 2014 WC runner-up and heavy favorite Serbia handed them a merciless 59-point beating.

They performed much better and gave themselves a fighting chance against Angola but fell short of a breakthrough and lost by three in overtime.

The scores:

Tunisia 86 – Abada 16, Roll 13, Mejri 12, Ben Romdhane 10, Hadidane 10, El Mabrouk 8, Mouhli 6, Ghyaza 5, Slimane 3, Knioua 2, Abbassi 1, Chennoufi 0.

Philippines 67 – Blatche 24, Rosario 8, Barroca 7, Fajardo 6, Perez 6, Ravena 5, Bolick 5, Lee 3, Aguilar 2, Pogoy 1, Almazan 0, Norwood 0.

Quarterscores: 27-10, 46-24, 67-39, 86-67