Gilas Pilipinas found itself on the brink of elimination after it bowed to Angola, 70-80, in their Group A duel of the 2023 FIBA World Cup on Sunday night, August 28, at the Araneta Coliseum.
Gilas stayed winless after two games, suffering another heartbreaker after starting the competition with an 81-87 loss to the Dominican Republic.
The Nationals seemed to have made the necessary adjustments after that loss to the Dominicans when they started strong against Angola.
Gilas led by seven at the end of the first quarter, 19-12, and increased the advantage to 28-17 at the seven-minute mark of the second quarter.
Just as the Filipinos started to feel good, Angola came roaring back and in a wink of an eye, Gilas’ lead vanished as the Angolans uncorked an 11-0 rin to tie the contest at 28.
Gilas regained the lead, 30-28, but Childe Dundao hit a three-pointer and Angola went to take the upper-hand, 36-33 at the bend.
Angola sustained its fiery form in the second, building a huge 73-57 lead inside the final four minutes of the contest.
Gilas made one last push but the best they could do was to move within 68-73 with 1:12 left.
Gerson Domingos put the final nail on Gilas’ coffin by sinking a booming triple that gave Angola a 76-68 lead with only 47 seconds left.
Gerson Goncalves fired 17 points, Domingos finished with 15, Bruno Fernando fired 14, while Jilson Bango and Silvio De Sousa had 10 points as Angola used a balanced attack to get its first win in the tournament.
Jordan Clarkson was the lone double-digit scorer for Gilas with 21 points.
Image courtesy of FIBA
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