Gilas vs. Italy Results:
The Italian Men’s Basketball Team, Italy Azzurri, defeated Gilas Pilipinas with the final score of 90-83. It bowed out for a chance to proceed to the second round after their dismal performance on Tuesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Gilas Pilipinas once again fumbled, and for the second straight game, the second quarter was the problem for the Gilas squad as they found it hard to score against the well-prepared Italian Azzurri.
The Italians were up for revenge for their sorry loss against the Dominican Republic despite the presence of their sharpshooting backcourts.
Gilas was leading by three points at 23-20 after the first quarter failed to control the tempo and the impressive performance of the Italians as they unleashed a 28-16 second quarter to take a 48-29 lead at the end of the First Half.
The Gilas Pilipinas squad, spearheaded by NBA Sixth Man of the Year Jordan Clarkson, was able to cut the lead to just seven, 56-49 when Dwight Ramos scored a three-pointer with six minutes remaining in the third, but that wasn’t enough to make a comeback.
Italy made an impressive offensive performance every time the Philippines tried to bounce back and get back at the Italians. At the same time, the Filipinos struggled to close out the shooters from Europe.
During the very important game for the Philippines after losing their two previous winnable games against the Dominican Republic and Angola, Italy led as much as 18 points in the final period after a dunk by Nicolo Melli with just 6:55 minutes remaining.
Utah Jazz star guard Jordan Clarkson led the Gilas squad with a game-high 23 points even though he struggled from the 3-point area, hitting only one of six attempts.
Aside from Jordan Clarkson, international Filipino player and veteran Gilas mainstay Dwight Ramos scored double figures at 14 points against the Italians.
For the European side, the Italians had six players who scored a double-digit performance, led by Clarkson’s Utah Jazz teammate Simone Fontecchio with 18 points.
Watch the Highlights Video of Gilas vs. Italy World Cup Match:
The Gilas Pilipinas squad had a tough night against the Italians as they could have barged into the tournament’s second round had they defeated Italy by at least 13 points. Gilas left winless in Group for a dismal 2023 World Cup performance.
The Dominican Republic leads all teams in Group A with an impressive 3-0 win-loss record, followed by Italy with a 2-1 win-loss record, and both teams will move on to the Second Round of the competition.
The Philippine Team, Gilas Pilipinas, and Angola are off to the classification round, where teams eliminated in the Group play will play against all the losers in the Group stage for the 17th to 32nd places.
Gilas’ loss at the hands of the European team Italy tests the preparations of Chot Reyes and his team, but all their efforts were in vain. A few hours before the start of the game, Chot Reyes said that the game was a must-win for Filipinos.
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