MANILA, Philippines - The growing pains continue for Gilas Pilipinas as another late collapse led to their second straight defeat in the 2014 Antibes International Basketball Tournament, losing to Australia, 97-75 in Antibes, France. After trailing just 47-42 to the taller Australian team, Gilas found themselves outscored by 17 points in the second half en route to the lopsided loss. Naturalized player Andray Blatche scored 20 and grabbed 10 rebounds while Jayson Castro returned to the lineup after nursing a sore hip to score 12 points. Jeff Chan and Gary David contributed 11 and 10, respectively. Gilas had been as close as four, 64-60, with about two minutes left in the third after Blatche hit a 30-foot three pointer followed by a running 3 by David. As had been their downfall against France the night before, Gilas faded late after Australia opened up the fourth with a 15-5 run. The Australian team, which fielded just one player shorter than 6-foot-4, out-rebounded Gilas 40-30 while being more conservative from beyond the arc (9/21 compared to 10/28) and dominating points in the paint by a 2/1 margin, 52-26. Six-foot-ten center Aron Baynes, who won an NBA title with the San Antonio Spurs this past year, led Australia with 15 points, 4 assists and two blocks while Dante Exum, the NBA’s fifth overall draft pick this year, contributed 8 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Gilas will conclude their run in the four-team tournament Monday, August 18 PH time with a game against Ukraine, which is ranked 11 spots below the Philippines by FIBA at 45. The tournament is a tuneup for the upcoming FIBA World Cup, which runs from August 30-September 14 in Spain. rappler/sports/by-sport/basketball/gilas-pilipinas/66436-gilas-pilipinas-australia-antibes
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 04:01:11 +0000
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