Gilas Pilipinas drops heated game to taller Greece

The Philippine national team got under the skin of Greece before yielding an 82-70 result in the FIBA Basketball World Cup early Monday morning in Seville, Spain.

Gilas Pilipinas was unable to overcome a poor start against the fifth-ranked team in the world.

Greece took control in the first quarter, 20-10, and kept Gilas at bay the rest of the way.

The Philippine team was held to just 35 percent from the field as the Greece defenders were able to home in on Gilas shooters.

The game got testy late when Gilas guard LA Tenorio was called for a flagrant foul for hitting Kostas Papanikolaou below the belt in the fourth period.

An altercation happened after the final buzzer with the Philippines taking offense at Greece taking a shot at the buzzer. Things escalated after a Greek big man pushed Jimmy Alapag, leading to heated moments before cooler heads prevailed.

Andray Blatche scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds despite playing with an injured knee that seemed to get worse during the game.

But he got little support from Gilas shooters, with only June Mar Fajardo as the only other player in double-figures for the Philippines with 10 points aside from seven rebounds.

Georgios Printezis led all scorers with 25 points, while 7-foot center Ioannis Bourousis added 12 points and 10 rebounds. — JST, GMA News