By REYNALD MAGALLON
Gilas Pilipinas held its ground and came tantalizingly close in pulling off an upset against world No. 15 Poland, dropping a close 82-80 decision before a rowdy crowd at the Sosnowiec Arena in the wee hours of Sunday, June 30 (Manila time).
Justin Brownlee exploded for 30 points as Gilas fought back from a 14-point deficit in the final frame but just couldn’t complete the comeback to wrap up its series of tuneup games ahead of the Olympic Qualifying tournament in Riga, Latvia.
Brownlee, who played all but two minutes in the contest, helped the Filipinos keep in step with the White and Red before Dwight Ramos came alive in the final five minutes when Poland was threatening to pull away.
Ramos fired 16 points, built on four triples – two of which he drained during a furious 13-3 Gilas run that almost erased a comfortable 12-point lead for Poland, 79-67 inside the last four minutes.
The 6-foot-4 guard also did a little bit of everything for the Nationals grabbing nine rebounds on top of his five assists and three steals.
June Mar Fajardo chipped in 10 points while Kai Sotto finished with eight points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Michal Sokolowski led the way for the host with 21 points while Aleksander Balcerowski added 10. San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan suited up for Poland albeit played limited minutes with eight points and five rebounds to show.
Despite the loss, the game actually gave Gilas a good feel of what it could be facing against OQT host Latvia especially with the jam packed crowd cheering against the visiting team.
Even with that, the Filipinos actually came out strong in the opening quarter, even taking a nine-point lead, 23-14 after a Fajardo layup. The White and Red as expected came back in the second quarter, limiting Gilas to just 15 while putting up 25 to take the driver seat 41-38 at the break.
The ranked 36 Nationals kept in step with Poland in the third frame before the hosts went on a blistering 9-0 run to open the final frame and suddenly erect a double-digit spread, 67-56.
The lead ballooned to as many as 14 points, 76-62, midway through fourth quarter before Gilas came back to its senses and unloaded the big run that went futile in the end.
