E-Gilas Pilipinas fell short of retaining its title after absorbing a sweep to Australia in the grand finals of the merged Southeast Asia-Oceania conference of the FIBA Esports Open II on Sunday night.
The Filipino NBA2K standouts failed to sustain their strong showing in the group stage as they bowed down to the Oceania champions in two games in the best-of-three titular showdown.
"It was a very disappointing loss because I felt that we could've done more," said E-Gilas coach Nielie "Nite" Alparas. "We fought hard and stayed focused but their momentum was unstoppable."
"Nonetheless, we are moving forward and looking at this setback as one of our stops in setting and establishing our team as one of the best," he added.
After finishing the eliminations on top with a 5-1 record, the Filipinos were not able to take advantage of being the host in Game 1, dropping a 62-54 decision to the Australians.
Aljon "Shintarou" Cruzin led E-Gilas with 16 points while Clark "Clark" Banzon scored seven of nine markers in the team's late 14-4 comeback run.
Game 2 saw an almost similar story as the Philippines took a 69-54 beating to Australia.
The Aussies snagged their largest lead at 57-32 in the third quarter before foiling the Filipinos' another late rally.
Shintarou tallied 13 points while Clark and Rial "Rial" Polog Jr. chipped in 12 and 11 markers, respectively, in the loss.
Australia's Benjamin "Waurk" Clobas, who fired 18 points in the title-clinching game, was named the tournament MVP.
E-Gilas ruled the inaugural edition of the FIBA Esports Open Southeast Asia division last June with a resounding five-game sweep of Indonesia.