Gilas Pilipinas’ Olympic dream vanished into thin air Friday after absorbing an 86-67 loss to Tunisia in the start of the FIBA World Cup classification round at the Wukesong Sport Arena in Beijing, China.
The Nationals couldn’t recover after Tunisia raced to a 12-3 start and suffer a fourth straight loss since their campaign in FIBA’s showpiece event began nearly a week ago in Foshan.
Not even Gilas mainstay Robert Bolick’s tweet, guaranteeing a Gilas win despite being demoralized by lopsided losses to Italy and Serbia and a heartbreaking overtime defeat to Angola could galvanize the team.
Host China ended Gilas’ very slim chances of making the Tokyo Games when it beat South Korea, 77-73, in a tightly-contested classification round affair in Guangzhou.
It was China’s second win which left Gilas vying for a spot in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the country’s last chance to reach Tokyo.
Gilas wraps up its World Cup campaign Sunday night against Iran, which kept its own Olympic bid alive with a 72-61 victory over Angola
It was also Iran’s first victory after losing all three matches in Guangzhou.
Coach Yeng Guiao’s team allowed five Tunisian players to score in double figures with Omar Abada leading the way with 16 points.
Naturalized player Michael Roll added 13, former NBA player Salah Mejri posted 12 points and 12 rebounds and Mohamed Hadidane and Makram Ben Romdhane added 10 apiece.
Andray Blatche was the lone Gilas player in double figures with 24 points, Troy Rosario had his best game of the tournament with eight points and six rebounds and Mark Barroca added seven. (Jonas Terrado)