Gilas Pilipinas tries to keep its very slim hopes of making the quarterfinals alive against Dominican Republic and France Friday, May 28 in the FIBA 3x3 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Graz, Austria.
The team of Joshua Munzon, CJ Perez, Mo Tautuaa and Santi Santillan takes on Dominican Republic at 11:50 a.m. local time (5:50 p.m. Manila time) in a battle between two teams which lost their first two games in Wednesday’s opener.
Following a short rest, Gilas 3x3 takes on world No. 10 and unbeaten France at 1:55 p.m. local time (7:55 p.m. Manila time) to wrap up its campaign in Pool C.
Coach Ronnie Magsanoc’s squad is in a precarious situation after being manhandled by Qatar, 21-12, and world No. 4 Slovenia, 21-11, during the first day of action.
Munzon was one of the few bright spots for Gilas, which had no answers to the crafty plays of both Qatar and Slovenia.
The Filipino cagers allowed Qatar to score seven unanswered points to start the game, with Abdulrahman Saad knocking down several two-point shots later in the contest.
Against Slovenia, Gilas couldn’t sustain an early 2-1 lead against Slovenia showed why its players are ranked in the top 50 of the FIBA rankings.
Gilas will need to beat both Dominican Republic and France if it wants to get a shot at a top two finish and a berth in the quarters of the Tokyo Olympics qualifier.
But the Philippines will also have to rely on the results of the other games in the pool in order to get a chance at making the next phase of the tourney.