MANILA, Philippines, April 1 ------ Gilas Women 3×3 ran out of gas in the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup in Singapore and saw their unbeaten run come to a halt in the quarterfinals following a 19-9 defeat to Chinese Taipei. Winning all five of their games from the qualifying draw to the pool stage, the banged-up Filipinas failed to advance as they struggled to keep in step with the bigger Taiwanese.
Mikka Cacho bravely played through a right knee injury and joined hands with Camille Clarin and Kaye Pingol to steer Gilas Women to a 5-4 lead before Chinese Taipei turned the tides. The Taiwanese uncorked an 9-1 run to build a commanding 13-6 lead as they pounced on the Filipinas’ shooting woes, with Kuo Hung-Ting and Chen Yu Chieh scoring 4 and 3 points, respectively, during that crucial stretch.
Kuo and Chen finished with 8 points each to propel Chinese Taipei to the final four. Clarin paced Gilas Women with 3 points and 5 rebounds, while Cacho tallied 3 points as she played sparingly due to her injury. Kaye Pingol scored 2 points and Jhazmine Joson got limited to 1 point after missing all of her five attempts from two-point distance. Joining Chinese Taipei in the semifinals are New Zealand, Australia, and Mongolia.
While the Filipinas reached the knockout round, Gilas Men ended their campaign without a win after bowing to Australia and Japan in the pool stage.
Editors'Note:
The Gilas Pilipinas Men 3×3 will go home empty-handed in the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup in Singapore after bowing to Japan, 22-12, in the do-or-die pool phase match. Ryuto Yasuoka, however, finally broke the dry spell off a two-pointer with 4:41 to play to double up on Gilas, 10-5, essentially spelling doom for the underdog Filipino squad. Tomoya Ochiai then drove home the proverbial dagger deuce from the right wing at the 3:41 mark to extend Japan’s gap to 7, 13-6, and never look back. Before tapering off as the night wore on, Gilas started off hot, leading Australia 10-7 in the first game, but the Boomers eventually siphoned off the Filipinos’ heat in the endgame with multiple killer deuces for a massive 14-3 turnaround and the eventual 21-13 finish.
Source: rappler.com
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