Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 vs Kazakhstan [19th Asian Games | Sep. 30, 2023]

Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 suffered its first setback in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, falling short of an outright quarterfinal spot.

The Philippines lost 21-12 to top seed Mongolia in the men’s 33 basketball competition at the Deqing Geographic Information Park Basketball Court in its final group stage game.

After winning their first three games, the Filipinos were forced plummeting back down to earth, finishing third in Pool A with a 3-1 record.

Mongolia jumped out to a 7-1 lead, led by 5 points from Batzaya Tsermaa, and never looked back on their way to a quarterfinal position reserved for the top team from each of the four groups.

Tsermaa scored eight points and Ulzii-Orshikh Myagmarsuren added seven in the Mongolians’ overwhelming victory, which they completed with 2:20 minutes remaining.

Bismarck Lina led the way with 7 points for the Philippines, who were missing the scoring contributions of typical suspects Bryan Sajonia and John Rey Pasaol, who were each limited to 2 points.

Justine Sanchez scored one point in the loss.

Gilas 3×3 has the same 3-1 record as Mongolia and Chinese Taipei, but lost the tiebreaker after scoring only 63 points in four games.