Gilas Pilipinas yield to Turkey

JAY R. GOTERA MANILA — Gilas Pilipinas gave heavy favorite Turkey a good fight before yielding, 76-84, Friday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in their final tune-up game before both squads see action in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament on July 5. Turkey, No. 8 in the FIBA world ranking, had too much firepower against the Philippines, ranked No. 28 in the world. The Turks earlier walloped Gilas in Istanbul last June 22, winning by 35 points, 103-68. On Friday night, however, the Filipinos put up a much tougher fight and even led early in the game. Andray Blatche led Gilas with 20 points, seven boards and five assists. Terrence Romeo added 16 points, including eight consecutive in the fourth quarter that cut a double-digit Turkey lead to just six, 82-76, with 47 seconds to play. Time ran out on the gutsy Gilas boys, however, as Turkey hung on for the win. Jayson Castro chipped in 13 points, while Gabe Norwood had 10. Naturalized guard Ali Muhammed paced Turkey with 16 points while former NBA player Semih Erden added 13 markers. Sinan Guler scored 13 points while NBA Draft pick Cedi Osman chipped in 10 markers. Gilas Pilipinas was ahead 20-19 at the end of the first quarter. After a power outage briefly halted the game in the second quarter, the Turks scored seven unanswered points to regain the lead, 28-25. Turkey kept pouring on the points with Guler finding his range all over the court. He nailed a three-pointer, hit three free throws, and fired another booming triple to beat the second quarter buzzer to give Turkey a 40-33 halftime lead. The Turks went for the kill in the third quarter, scoring 10 unanswered points to take a commanding 50-33 lead. The Filipinos finally answered with a 20-8 run sparked by Romeo and Ray Parks to cut Turkey’s lead to 58-53. After Norwood drilled five straight points to cut Turkey’s lead to seven, 72-65, the Turks answered with a 5-0 run, to regain a double-digit lead, 77-65, with just 3:59 remaining. The Filipinos fought on with Romeo knocking down eight straight points in the homestretch to slash Turkey’s lead to just six, 82-76, with 47 seconds to play. But that proved to be Gilas’ last hurrah before bowing to Turkey anew.