By JONAS TERRADO
Gilas Pilipinas couldn’t translate its courageous stand against host Serbia the other day into a spot in the semifinals of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament after suffering a 94-67 loss to the Dominican Republic early Friday (Manila time) in Belgrade.
An error-prone second half resulted in Gilas losing a slim halftime lead even as the Caribbean nation turned a tight contest into a lopsided affair to claim the win going away at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in the Serbian capital.
Veteran guard Victor Liz, the athletic Gervis Solano, Mike Torres and Angel Nunez were responsible for sealing Dominican Republic’s place in the semifinal against Group B winner Italy while leaving coach Tab Baldwin and the rest of the Gilas contingent to ponder on the huge beating.
It wasn’t the performance Baldwin had hoped after Gilas came close to scoring an upset over world No. Serbia before falling 83-76 in its opening campaign in the Belgrade OQT.
“No excuses,” said Baldwin. “Not much to say other than we were outplayed, outcoached and outgunned.”
“You gotta give Dominican credit for the way they played and for what they had to do to win and win convincingly. So all I can say is that we’re disappointed and we have many things to learn from this and offer my congratulations to the Dominican and wish them well in the next stage.”
Jordan Heading was one of the few bright spots with 16 points with three of his four made triples coming in the first two quarters that saw Gilas lead by a high of eight.
Ange Kouame, who came off the bench this time, had 10 points and six rebounds in 21 minutes.
But the most glaring numbers for Gilas were its cold second half shooting and the number of turnovers all throughout.
Gilas committed 23 turnovers during the match while its shooting percentage dipped after making half of its 28 attempts in the first half, going 5-of-15 in the third which the Dominican Republic took advantage.
That came during a telling windup in the third when the Dominicans scored 12 unanswered points to turn a 53-51 lead into 65-51 going into the final period highlighted by back-to-back three-point plays by Nunez and Solano.
Kouame’s hook to open the fourth gave Gilas something to look forward to, but Dominican quickly responded with another 12-0 run that ended on Liz’s triple with 6:25 to go in the ballgame.
Liz, who is 35 years old, finished with 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting including five triples, Solano had 20 points highlighted by a right-handed dunk in the third with five rebounds and three steals while Torres and Nunez added 20 and 13 points for the Dominican Republic.
Gilas is set to fly back to Manila where the group will undergo a mandatory quarantine for arriving passengers before preparation for the FIBA Asia Cup begins at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna on July 20 at the earliest.
The scores:
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 94 — Liz 23, Solano 21, Torres 20, Nunez 13, Francis Ramirez 5, Rojas 4, Araujo 4, Santos 2, Mendoza 2, Henriquez 0, Feliz Sarita 0, Martinez 0.
PHILIPPINES 67 — Heading 16, Kouame 10, Sotto 8, Navarro 6, Belangel 6, Abarrientos 6, Baltazar 5, Tamayo 5, Nieto 4, Go 1, Chiu 0.
Quarters: 23-22, 39-41, 65-51, 94-67.
