The Philippines basketball team’s Olympic dreams were denied on Wednesday, as they unravelled late against New Zealand in an 89-80 loss in Manila.
The Filipinos, hosting one of three six-team tournaments to decide the final three spots at Rio 2016, were eliminated with Wednesday’s result and their opening defeat to France. The French and the “Tall Blacks” will face off to determine who will win the three-team group and play the second-placed team from Group A, either Senegal or Turkey. The loser will play Group A winners Canada.
The Philippines ran into a familiar problem against New Zealand, namely a size disadvantage. Their three-point heavy attack was reasonably successful, as they converted 11-of-27 (41 per cent) of attempts, with naturalised big man Andray Blatche providing 30 points and seven rebounds as he shot 4-of-7 from distance.
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Point guards Jayson Castro, with 13 points and 3-of-5 three-point shooting, and Jeffrei Chan (11, 2-of-4 from three) were also effective.
But the Gilas Pilipinas simply could not stop the bigger guards of New Zealand, who took advantage of size mismatches with easy post points and burned them repeatedly on unimpeded cuts into open space under the rim for lay-ups and dunks.
Tai Webster, a US university-level player at Nebraska, scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. His older brother Corey scored 23 and Turkey-based Thomas Abercrombie had 13 points and seven rebounds.
Blatche, with his silky-smooth head fake-drive combos and three-point marksmanship, often kept the Philippines in the game, along with some admirable muscling inside by fellow big man June Mar Fajardo (11 points, four rebounds, 3-of-4 shooting).
The Philippines were down by as many as 13 in the third quarter and entered the fourth with an eight-point disadvantage. But they closed within two early in the final period thanks to Blatche, before Tai Webster and Abercrombie spurred New Zealand to a 16-5 run to reestablish the 13-point lead. The pair accounted for 12 points in a five-minute span.
The Philippines went 2-for-11 in the same span, their shot abandoning them at the worst possible time. It was a similar story to the France loss, which saw the Gilas fighting late into the game before they were ultimately overwhelmed.
It will be counted a disappointing outcome for the Philippines, who reached the final at the 2015 Fiba Asia Championships last year and were optimistic about their hopes of qualifying with a number of bright young talents like Fajardo, Terrence Romeo, Bobby Ray Parks and Troy Rosario earning their place in the national side.
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