Gilas Pilipinas had a bad start in its title-retention bid after bowing to a souped-up Bahrain quintet, 89-85, in the 20th Asian Games men’s basketball group stage match on Friday at the Aichi International Arena in Nagoya, Japan.
The Filipinos fell behind early, 0-8, managed to tie the game at 39-39 on a three by Don Trollano, but fell short in the endgame to start the tournament with a setback.
With Bahrain getting the energy and big lift from its naturalized players led by JaKarr Sampson and Elijah Thomas, the tiny West Asian country managed to show its offensive might in the third period for to a sizeable 76-61 lead.
The Philippines managed to string up a stronger fourth quarter effort, outscoring Bahrain, 24-13 in that stretch, but the deficit was just too big to overcome as the Philippines sustained a shocking loss.
The Gilas Pilipinas team here is a totally different squad, with guys like Kai Sotto, AJ Edu, Dwight Ramos and Kevin Quiambao not around. Tim Cone is still the coach but the all PBA-backed squad did not have naturalized player Justin Brownlee, who led the Philippines to a gold medal finish in the Asian Games in 2023.
Calvin Oftana, the team’s last-minute addition, carried the fight for Gilas Pilipinas after scoring 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the floor.
The TNT mainstay, easily the most experienced player for the national team, knocked down 5-of-10 from downtown as he tried to carry the scoring cudgels for the national team.
Adrian Nocum sustained an ankle sprain late in the game and may be doubtful wnen Gilas tries to bounce back against Kazakhstan on Saturday, 6 p.m.
That will be a crucial game in its bid to keep its back-to-back Asian Games title hopes alive.
Kazakhstan suffered a 99-61 beating at the hands of China earlier.
The Philippines held a huge 50-36 rebounding advantage but the team shot just 38 percent from the field (31-of-81) compared to Bahrain’s 53 percent (33-of-62).
