Angola keeps Gilas Pilipinas winless in 2019 FIBA World Cup

The Philippines remained winless in the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup after a heartbreaking 84-81 overtime result against Angola on Wednesday in Foshan, China.

Coming off back-to-back blowout losses against Italy and Serbia in its first two assignments, Gilas Pilipinas hoped for a better result against the African side, which also lost big against both European powers.

The Philippine team rallied from a double-digit deficit to force overtime, before fading in the extra period.

Gilas was still down, 61-51, early in the final period when Ravena drew a foul for three free throws. The former Ateneo guard scored on all three shots, which touched off a furious 11-2 run that put Gilas within one, 63-62, with five minutes remaining.

Angola broke the silence with a basket in the next possession, but Gilas responded with a jumper by Blatche and a corner three from Roger Pogoy to push the Philippine up by two, 67-65, at the 3:51 mark of the fourth quarter.

A follow-up slam dunk by Japeth Aguilar pushed the lead to four points, but Angola quickly responded with a basket of its own. Ravena split his free throws in the next possession, allowing Angola to tie the game at 70-all with a three-pointer with two minutes left.

Aguilar had a golden chance to put the Philippines back up, but missed an easy layup off a pass by Ravena. Angola then scored on a three-point play with 52.7 seconds remaining to take a 73-70 lead.

Perez responded with a clutch three-pointer off a broken play to tie the game anew with 33 seconds left  in the game.

Both teams failed to score in each of their next possessions, leading to overtime.

Gilas scored the first three points in the extra period, before suddenly going cold. A 7-0 run put Angola up, 80-76, with two minutes left in the game.

Gilas made one final push after Roger Pogoy hit a three-pointer with 24 seconds left to cut the lead to two. But the Philippines was unable to foul until there was less than eight seconds left, leaving the team with little time even after an Angola split.

Ravena's desperation three hit back iron, and Angola rebounded the loose ball to seal the victory.

Blatche finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds for his best outing of the tournament. Perez added 17 points while Bolick added 10 for Gilas, which will move into the classification stage of the tournament. —JST, GMA News