Gilas Pilipinas shows improvement, but falls short vs. Turkey's giants

The Philippine national basketball team provided plenty of excitement before ultimately falling short, 84-76, against a taller Turkey squad on Friday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Turkey looked like it had the game in the bag with a late 14-point lead, before Gilas Pilipinas came roaring back behind eight straight points from Terrence Romeo to cut the deficit, 82-76, with a minute left.

But Gilas could not come any closer down the stretch, allowing Turkey to escape with the win.

In its final outing before the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament next week, Gilas started off well, taking a 20-19 lead after the first period. The Philippines dropped a 103-68 result to Turkey team, nicknamed the 12 Giant Men by its fans, last week in Italy.

Turkey reversed things by opening the second half with a 10-0 run to take 50-33 lead. The rest of the game saw Gilas gallantly trying to battle back. —JST, GMA News