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| Gilas surprised Mongolia early on, but the latter still had the last laugh. SBP |
MANILA—Gilas Pilipinas 3x3 came just close to a major upset but still fell short against world number seven Mongolia, 19-21, to start their FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup pool stage stint on Saturday night in Singapore.
Gilas surprised Mongolia with a solid early game that saw the Filipinos racing to a 12-5 lead two and a half minutes in.
However, Mongolia responded with an 8-2 run to cut the lead down to one, 14-13, with 5:55 remaining.
Gilas had another mini run as they came three points shy of the 21-point target while upping their lead to three, 18-15, with 3:47 to go.
Back-to-back deuces from Chinkhutag Munkh-Ulzii, though, put Mongolia ahead, 19-18, with 3:11 remaining.
Chris Koon tied the game one more time at 19-all with a layup with 3:03 left, but Ganbaatar Nyamdorj drew Mongolia to within match point with an inside shot of his own with two and a half minutes to find the dagger.
Aware that they can still steal the win with a long-range bomb, Koon and Ralph Cu tried their luck from beyond the arc.
However, they missed crucial two-pointers, and Nyamdorj called game with a hook shot right at the two-minute mark.
Bolor-Erdene Gantsolmon had a solid all-around game with seven points, four rebounds, and five assists for Mongolia, which swept Pool A after also prevailing against Chinese Taipei earlier Saturday.
Nyamdorj added six markers, while Munkh-Ulzii and Sugar-Ochir Erdenetsetseg each had four.
Cu went 3-for-6 from beyond the arc for eight points, Koon added seven, and Herrick Ahanmisi and Sean Alter each had two for Gilas, which will play Chinese Taipei later Saturday with the winner joining Mongolia in the quarterfinals.
