BULACAN, Philippines – Gilas Pilipinas pulled off a dominant win over Russia, 19-12, in the FIBA 3×3 World Cup 2018 on Saturday, June 9, at the Philippine Arena. 

Troy Rosario’s 3 straight two-pointers built the Philippines’ 11-point lead, 14-3, with 3:59 left in the game. 

Victor Pavlenko sparked Russia’s late rally in the last two minutes of the game which was no match for Gilas Pilipinas as the nationals still led by 7 after Pavlenko’s last gasp two-pointer.  

Stanley Pringle paced the game with 9 points that mostly came from his 6-point outburst in the first 4 minutes of the game. 

Earlier, Gilas Pilipinas surrendered a do-or-die thriller to Canada, 20-19, which virtually eliminated Philippines from the knockout stage contention.

“It was a learning experience,” said Pringle about the nationals’ loss to Canada as a motivation. 

“We did 3 weeks of practice and they’ve [Canada] been playing together for years, so I think we gave them a good run for their money. They were shocked, I believe.”

Philiippines finished the tournament with a 2-2 record in Pool C.

The Scores:

PHILIPPINES (19) — Pringle 9, Rosario 8, Pogoy 2, Standhardinger 0. 

RUSSIA (12) — Pavlenko 6, Korshakov 4, Dybovskii 1, Alexandrov 1.

– Rappler.com