FOSHAN, China — Gilas Pilipinas’ chances of advancing to the second round of the FIBA World Cup came to an expected end Monday night after being handed a sound beating by title contender Serbia, 126-67, at the Foshan International Sports and Cultural Center here.
Despite a more aggressive stand this time compared to Saturday’s 108-62 defeat at the hands of Italy, Gilas couldn’t solve its problems of making its outside shots as well as protecting the ball which allowed Serbia to exploit to win pulling away.
Paul Lee’s jumper that gave the Philippines a 9-7 lead with 6:01 left in the opening period was the team’s only consolation.
The celebration, however, wad shortlived as Serbia also imposed its will the rest of the way.
Former NBA cager Miroslav Raduljica posted 11 of his 13 points in the first half and Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic flaunted his court wizardry for 11 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in 19 minutes.
Two threes by Sacramento Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanovic to start the third set up Serbia’s telling breakaway that led to a second lopsided victory, more convincing than its 105-59 romp of Angola in the opener.
With back-to-back defeats coupled with Italy’s 92-61 win over Angola, Gilas was relegated to a classification round for 17th to 32nd places in Beijing.
Gilas wraps up its campaign in this city Wednesday against Angola, hoping to score a win before heading to the Chinese capital for the classification games against the bottom two teams of Group C, composed of Spain, Puerto Rico, Tunisia and Iran.
PBA rookies CJ Perez and Robert Bolick were once again the few bright spots for Gilas, continuing their impressive plays that earned them more praises from Filipino fans and perhaps the Chinese and Serbian audience that almost packed the venue.
Perez had 16 points and Bolick added seven.
Lee also made a good impression on his way to 15 points while June Mar Fajardo had eight points and six rebounds despite being bothered by an ankle injury that forced him to miss Monday’s practice.
Fajardo did participate in a shootaround held hours before tipoff and played as if he was pain-free, even against Serbia’s 7-foot-3 NBA player Boban Marjanovic.
Individual performances, however, couldn’t hide the overall struggles of the team, missing 20-of-24 threes and committing 14 turnovers.
Naturalized player Andray Blatche struggled again by posting only five points on 2-of-10 shooting while dealing early foul trouble. (Jonas Terrado)
