MANILA, Philippines — Gilas Pilipinas saw its late-game rally sparked by Dwight Ramos fall short as the national squad bowed to Poland, 82-80 to close its two-game friendly with a defeat on Sunday, June 30 in Sosnowiec, Poland.
The Filipino-American Ramos fired 16 points, including his own personal 5-0 run heading into the final two minutes to push Gilas to within 77-82 after being down by 10 points.
Chris Newsome split his charities, while CJ Perez scored inside with 2.3 seconds to go, but the Polish national squad managed to stay steady, leading to the narrow win by the 15th-ranked basketball team in the world.
The Philippines closed its two-game friendly without a win, having dropped an 84-73 decision to Turkey in Istanbul a few days back.
With the lessons learned from its Europe trip, Gilas Pilipinas hopes to put together a solid front as it flies to Riga, Latvia for the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament where only one slot in the Paris Olympics is at stake.
Gilas plays host and would no. 6 Latvia on July 4 (12 midnight, Philippine time), followed by Georgia on July 4 (8:30 p.m. Philippine time).
Gilas actually started well after taking a 23-16 lead in the opening quarter.
But Poland outscored the Philippines, 25-15 to take control and head to intermission with a 41-28 lead.
Justin Brownlee, who shot a game-high 30 points, managed to keep things interesting for the national squad, who stayed within 56-58 against Poland at the close of the third period.
But Poland opened the final quarter with 11 unanswered points to grab a 67-56 lead. That advantage eventually stretched to 76-62, which proved to be enough of a buffer to withstand Gilas' late-game rally.
June Mar Fajardo scored 10 points, along with three rebounds, and two steals, while his young front court partner Kai Sotto added eight and 11 boards.
Sweet-shooting Michal Sokolowski, who won an Italian Cup recently, along with being named the Most Valuable Player, led Poland with 21 markers, laced by 3-of-4 shooting from downtown.
Slotman Aleksander Balcerowski added 10, while Jeremy Sochan, the San Antonio Spurs forward, who was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second team, had eight point and four rebounds.
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