Gilas Pilipinas ends tune up tour with a close loss to Dominican Republic

The Philippine national men’s basketball team gave Dominican Republic a tough battle, 86-79, on Monday in its final tune-up game before the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain.


Gilas Pilipinas competed with the 26th ranked Dominican Republic despite playing without star guard Jayson Castro, who continues to nurse an injury with under a week remaining until the tournament.

Gabe Norwood led the Filipinos with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists while naturalized NBA player Andray Blatche finished with 16. LA Tenorio added 10 points.

The game was close for much of the game with the teams dueling to a 21-all deadlock in the first and the Philippines trailing by just four, 48-44, at the half.

The Dominicans led by as much as 10, 56-46, in the third after scoring eight unanswered points. But the Filipinos charged back behind PBA MVP June Mar Fajardo to come to within three, 57-54, before the fourth period.

A dunk from Norwood and a three-pointer from Tenorio highlighted the early goings of the fourth as Gilas hung tough until Jeff Chan hit another Philippine trey to take a 68-67 lead.

But the Houston Rockets’ Francisco Garcia scored two points to swing the lead back the Domincans way.

Norwood hit a couple of threes to keep the Philippine within two, 80-78, with under two minutes remaining.

But Dominican Republic closed the game on a 6-1 run to seal the win.

The South American side was led by James Feldeine with 15 points.

The FIBA World Cup opens on August 30.

The scores:
Dominican Republic (86) – Feldeine 15, Martinez 14. Vargas 12, Liz 11, Garcia 10, Sosa 8, Coronado 5, Sueno 4, Santana 4, Sanchez 2, Ramon 0.

Gilas Pilipinas (79) – Norwood 17, Blatche 16, Tenorio 10, Chan 8, David 7, Lee 7, Fajardo 6, Pingris 4, Aguilar 3, Alapag 1, De Ocampo 0.

Quarterscores: 21-21, 48-44, 57-54, 86-79.