Gilas ousted by New Zealand in OQT

By Ivan Saldajeno

PASAY—New Zealand shattered Gilas Pilipinas' hopes of making the Rio Olympics with an 89-80 win in the main game of Day 2 of the FIBA OQT at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday night.

Gilas found the Webster Brothers too hot to handle as both Tai and Corey carried the fight early on before Issac Fotu and Thomas Abercrombie joined the scoring fray later in the match.

The Websters lifted the Kiwis almost by themselves with Corey sparking a 13-2 run with two triples to put them up, 28-19, with 5:55 left in the first half.

Jayson Castro fired five straight points to cut the lead to four, but a trey from Tai Webster ignited another New Zealand breakaway bid that opened their largest lead at 13, 50-37, with 7:19 left in the third quarter.

Gilas had one last stand, going on an 8-0 run spanning the last two periods to bring them to within two, 58-60, with 8:36 to go in the game.

But Abercrombie took over and capped the game-turning 16-5 rally to up the lead back to 13 with not much time left.

Tai Webster finished with 25 points, ten coming in the fourth, along with 11 rebounds, while his older brother added 23 markers for New Zealand, whose own Olympic bid continues by clinching a spot in the semifinals ahead of their match against France on Thursday night.

The winner of the said game at 9 p.m. takes on the victor of the 6:30 p.m. rubber match between Senegal and Turkey in the knockout semifinals on Saturday night.

Andray Blatche fired 30 points, seven boards, two assists, and one block for Gilas, whose Olympic return bid is postponed by four more years.

Box Scores:

New Zealand 89-T. Webster 25, C. Webster 23, Fotu 17, Abercrombie 13, Vukona 6, Ili 2, Bartlett 2, Loe 1, Anthony 0

Philippines 80-Blatche 30, Castro 13, Chan 11, Fajardo 11, Rosario 7, Romeo 5, Reyes 2, Parks 1, Norwood 0, Pingris 0, Aguilar 0, De Ocampo 0

Quarterscores: 21-17, 38-31, 60-53, 89-80

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