BOCAUE, Bulacan – Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 team suffered a close 19-20 defeat to Canada in the 2018 FIBA 3×3 World Cup on Monday at the Philippine Arena.
Gilas surged to a 2-1 start with back-to-back layups from Stanley Pringle but Canada pulled away with consecutive shots for a 9-2 edge. The Philippines broke the scoring slump with a 2-pointer from Roger Pogoy.
After an outside hit from Canada for an 11-5 lead, Gilas responded with baskets from Christian Standhardinger and Pogoy to come to within 9-12. Canada was up 12-15 when Pogoy unloaded back-to-back 2-pointers to tie the scores 16-all.
Two free throws by Pogoy made Gilas surge 18-16 but Canada answered with three straight inside hits to take a 19-18 lead. After a game-tying shot by Standhardinger, Michael Linklater scored on a layup for Canada to escape with the victory.
The Philippine women’s 3×3 team – Afril Bernardino, Jack Danielle Animam, Janine Pontejos, and Gemma Miranda – finished its campaign Sunday evening without any win.
Pontejos waxed hot with 13 markers for the Philippine side in their opening game on Sunday but these were not enough to pull off an upset against the No. 12 Spain 17-21.
In their final game the Filipinas failed to sustain their strong start and suffered a heartbreaking 15-18 defeat to Hungary. They finished the Pool D classification round on last place (0-4).
“I am proud of the girls for the effort, for the hard work they did,” said head coach Patrick Aquino. “It’s a start of something big sana for the future. Maybe this is a spark for the women’s basketball in the country.”/PN
