The hot-shooting Italy showed Gilas Pilipinas the exit door, scoring a 90-83 win in the 2023 FIBA World Cup on Tuesday night, August 29, at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.
The Filipinos fell out of title contention by losing all of their three games, making them the only team in Group A to end up winless.
The Dominican Republic topped Group A with a perfect 3-0 (win-loss) card, while Italy went 2-1.
Angola finished with a 1-2 record.
The Dominican Republic and Italy advanced to the second round, while Angola and Gilas were relegated to the classification round.
Italy finished with a total of 17 three-pointers, while Gilas only had 10.
Just like in their previous two losses, Gilas fell into a huge double-digit hole and tried to come back but ultimately fell short.
Down by 18 early in the fourth, the Nationals staged a major run to move within 88-81 but with only 1:43 left.
Italy came up with the needed defensive stops in the closing seconds to completely shut the door on the rallying Filipinos.
In a show of balanced attack, Italy had six players scoring in double figures with Simone Fontecchio leading the way with a team-high 18 points.
Clarkson fired a game-high 23 points, but Dwight Ramos was the only other Gilas to score in double figures with 14.
Image courtesy of FIBA
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