Pilipinas Basketball 2014:
Croatia evades mighty Pilipinas scare, 81-78 OT
August 31, 2014 – Sevilla
FIBA World Cup 2014: Team Gilas Pilipinas failed to overcome the Croatian juggernaut in the FIBA World Cup 2014 opener with a stunning 78-81 overtime upset. Bojan Bogdanovic led the Croats with 26 markers, while Andray Blatche and Jeffrei “Negros Sniper” Chan dropped 28 and 17 points apiece.
Notes:
➤ In what appeared to be a highly controversial ballgame between the Asian and European powerhouses, Croatia got the better calls in the crucial moments of the contest.
➤ Jayson “The Blur” Castro was called for a highly questionable flop in the third canto, and who unfortunately also got a bum no-call in the final seconds of the overtime while taking a critical clutch trey.
➤ In the fourth canto, Jeffrei Chan missed a contested trey in the dying seconds leading to a 71-All overtime. It was anybody’s ballgame as the spitfire RP five was trailing 78-79 until the final 5.6 seconds of extra time.
➤ All throughout, the Filipinos stunned a clueless Croatia as the Philippines continually dropped 10 rainbow bombs in the last three quarters.
➤ “We just kept on fighting. We knew Croatia was tough but the players fought all the way,” Coach Chot Reyes said of the Pinoy’s gallant stand.
Game Scores:
Quarters: 1Q:23-9 CRO, 2Q:37-31 CRO, 3Q:57-49 CRO, 4Q:71-71 OT:81-78 CRO.
GILAS PILIPINAS: 78
Blatche 28, Chan 17, Pingris 10, Castro 6, De Ocampo 5, Alapag 4, Tenorio 2, Norwood 2, Lee 2, Fajardo 2, Aguilar 0.
CROATIA: 81
Bogdanovic 26, Simon 12, Saric 10, Tomic 8, Ukic 5, Lafayette 4, Rudez 4, Zoric 4, Babic 3.
Posted on August 31, 2014 - Sevilla, Spain
Written by Rock Punzalan for Philippine Basketball News Team
