Gilas Pilipinas falls short vs. Turkey in tuneup match ahead of FIBA OQT

Gilas Pilipinas fell short against Turkey, 84-73, in a tuneup match on Thursday in Istanbul days before the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The nationals trailed 42-40 at the end of the first half, despite the home team's control of the game, but Turkey's three-point shooting proved crucial as they made 14 of 41, including Tarik Biberovic's dagger which put the European squad to 81-73 before closing the match.

Justin Brownlee led Gilas with 21 points, while June Mar Fajardo had 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Biberovic, meanwhile, had 23 points.

Gilas team manager Richard del Rosario said the loss was tough, but they will still need to fight back when they face Poland on Saturday.

"While others may see it as a satisfying first game, our team mindset is - almost is not enough. We only have one shot at make it to the Olympics and we cannot be satisfied with almost winning. We move on to the next game with a firmer belief that we can hold our own against higher ranked teams with a real chance of reaching our mission of making it to Paris," Del Rosario said in a release by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Poland will also compete in the OQT but it will play its games in Spain, while Gilas will play in Latvia.

—JKC, GMA Integrated News