Gilas Pilipinas fightback not enough in narrow tuneup loss to Poland

Gilas Pilipinas displayed a brave stand, but it was not enough as the Filipinos still absorbed a narrow loss to Poland, 82-80, in their tuneup game in Poland on early Sunday (Philippine time). 

The 11-man national squad clawed back from being down in double digits with Dwight Ramos and Justin Brownlee leading the fourth quarter resurgence, but they ultimately succumbed to close out their final friendly game before the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament next week. 

Naturalized player Brownlee top-scored with 30 points behind a 60 percent shooting from the field, while also grabbing three rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Ramos, meanwhile, had 16 markers, highlighted by four triples, to go with nine boards, five dimes, and three swats. 

The Filipinos trailed by as much as 14 after Jaroslaw Zyskowski fired a triple that sent the Polish squad to a 76-62 cushion in the final frame. Brownlee and Ramos then responded with their own long bombs, cutting Gilas' deficit to seven at 79-72 with under three minutes to go. 

Ramos would then bury his fourth three-pointer of the game to make it an 82-77 affair in the final 1:43 before Chris Newsome split his free throws for a one possession ballgame. 

Ramos would have brought the house down but he missed on his final triple attempt. 

CJ Perez, though, completed a desperate layup, but that could only cut Poland's lead to just two with only three ticks left as the hosts cruised to the hard-fought victory. 

Michal Sokoloswki paced Poland with 21 points and five assists as Poland defeated the Philippines despite the latter outrebounding the former, 42 to 21, led by Kai Sotto's 11 boards. 

Gilas Pilipinas will return to action on Thursday for the OQT, taking on world no. 6 Latvia first at 12 a.m. before slugging it out against world no. 23 Georgia at 8:30 p.m. (both in Philippine time).

—JKC, GMA Integrated News