Gilas Pilipinas Men caught fire from long range and stayed steady in the clutch to repeat against Korea, 82-77, and complete a sweep of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers Sunday at the AUF Sports Arena and Cultural Center in Angeles City, Pampanga.
The young Filipinos did not need any sort of lucky shot in the endgame this time around, although they did rely on three big free throws from Dwight Ramos and SJ Belangel in the final 25 seconds to finish the tournament with an unblemished 5-0 run.
"Obviously overjoyed to take three wins from this window and two against South Korea. I think that's a great credit to this basketball team and these young players," head coach Tab Baldwin expressed. "But also I want to make sure that everybody acknowledges what a great job our coaching staff did. And I'm talking excluding myself."
Belangel, the Gilas hero who lifted the Nationals with a game-winning buzzer-beater last Wednesday, went 1-for-2 from the line with 25.2 ticks remaining after drawing an unsportsmanlike foul off an inbound.
Ramos then drew a foul after the Filipinos retained possession and split his charities, but he pulled down his own miss to snuff out any hopes of a late comeback by the Koreans.
The 22-year-old Ramos led the charge for Gilas with 19 points on 5-for-9 shooting from downtown to go with 5 assists and two steals.
Three other players in Kai Sotto, RJ Abarrientos and Jordan Heading finished with 10 each, while William Navarro added eight and four boards, plus a late assist to Justine Baltazar on a broken play that helped the Philippines stay in command for a 79-75 lead with 33 seconds remaining.
Gilas shot a pedestrian 38.7 percent (29-for-75), but they waxed hot from downtown and hit 14-for-37 3s (37.8 percent).
The Philippines had an overwhelming advantage in points scored off turnovers (19-5) and held the Koreans to just three fast break points.
"I think that tells the story. That's a pretty good formula for beating a South Korea team, when you hold their transition game down, and you don't turn the ball over and you get on the boards," Baldwin noted.
Korea, on the other hand, made 43.7 percent of its shots but just 10-for-35 (28.6 percent) on 3s.
Naturalized big man Ra Guna tallied 20 points on 8-for-10 shooting to go with 13 boards, but he only had six in the second half for Korea. Lee Hyunjung put up 13 points and three triples while adding eight boards, while Yang Hongseok added 12 and three threes as well.
Korea got off to a rousing start and scored nine straight points to start the contest, but the visitors could not maintain the advantage and gave up an 8-0 as Gilas kept it close for most of the first quarter.
Gilas took charge in the second period, where the team outscored Korea 20-14 while holding their foes to just 5-for-12 from the field throughout that stretch to enter the half with a 38-34 lead.
"I was particularly happy with our first half defense. I thought we did a great job in the first half. It really set the tone that we were going to be a competitive team throughout the game and we were going to be there at the end, one way or another," said Baldwin.
Gilas will now prepare to fly over to Serbia, where they will take on the hosts and Dominican Republic in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Belgrade on June 30 and July 1.
The Scores:
PHILIPPINES 82 -- Ramos 19, Sotto 10, Heading 10, Abarrientos 10, Navarro 8, Kouame 7, Baltazar 6, Belangel 6, Nieto 3, Go 3, Chiu 0.
KOREA 77 -- Ra 20, Lee HJ 13, Yang 12, Lee DS 9, Lee SH 8, Kim 8, Jeon 3, Byeon 2, Yeo 2, Ha 0.
Quarters: 18-20, 38-34, 56-54, 82-77.
Gilas repeats over Korea, sweeps FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers - ESPN
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