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| Gilas was sent home with China's 44-point demolition job. Asian Games (file photo) |
CALOOCAN—Gilas Pilipinas just needed to at least keep the losing margin against China to at most 37 points to secure a spot in the Asian Games quarterfinals and keep its bid for back-to-back golds alive.
Seems easy, right?
However, China, which has been tearing Group C apart, made Gilas' elimination easier.
China removed Gilas from its Asian Games throne with a 105-61 demolition job on Monday at the IG Arena in Nagoya.
China raced to a hot start and led 36-16 at the end of the first quarter, and the team would never look back to secure the win.
The real goal, however, was to keep the game as close as possible to preserve the quarterfinal spot, and China made sure Gilas would not achieve it.
Gilas had a chance to move closer as it cut China's lead to 35, 81-46, early in the fourth quarter, just within the needed maximum deficit to advance.
However, a 13-2 China run midway through the fourth doused cold water on Gilas' chances even as the Chinese squad had answers to Gilas' mini-rallies down the stretch.
Wang Junjie led China, which completed a 3-0 sweep of the group stages, with 20 points, 14 rebounds, three assists.
Liao Sanning added 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals, while Cui Yongxi and Hu Jinqiu each had 10 markers with Cui grabbing 12 boards.
Calvin Oftana had 13 points, one assist, and one steal for Gilas, which had to relinquish the last quarterfinal berth to Saudi Arabia with the 44-point defeat.
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