Gilas rally comes up short in loss to Estonia

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine national basketball team suffered their second straight loss in their 3-day pocket tournament in Tallinn, Estonia, by losing to the hometown team, 90-80, on Saturday, August 22.

Unlike in their loss to Netherlands where Gilas showed up in the first half but disappeared for the final two quarters, Head Coach Tab Baldwin’s troops came out flat in the early goings against Estonia and only built sustainable momentum in the final period.

Gilas fell into a 33-18 hole against Estonia and their accurate-shooting bigs by the end of one quarter, and that lead increased up to 20, 55-35, at the half.

The Philippine team trailed by 21 early in the fourth period but managed to cut the deficit to 9, 86-77, with a little over two minutes remaining thanks to the individual play of Andray Blatche and Terrence Romeo.

However, Estonia managed to get enough stops to hold off Gilas’ comeback attempt.

Blatche led the national team with 16 points, shooting 6-of-12 from the field. Jayson Castro and Romeo each played well, putting up 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Matt Rosser and Dondon Hontiveros each came off the bench and provided needed scoring by combining for 16 points. Calvin Abueva scored 8 points but played only 13 minutes due to foul trouble.

Gilas will be back in action late on Saturday when they face Iceland at 10:30 pm (Manila time). – Rappler.com