MANILA, Philippines–Gilas Pilipinas gave Serbia all it could handle but the host managed to escape an upset and secured a close 83-76 victory in the Fiba Olympic Qualifying tournament in Belgrade early Thursday.
Despite missing its best player Dwight Ramos, the Filipinos still managed to push the Serbians–led by NBA center BobanMarjanovi and star forward Ognjen Dobric–to their limit, even taking the lead 74-73 with under four minutes to play.
But the Serbians came to their senses just in time, closing the game on a decisive 10-2 run to advance to the semifinals of the qualifiers.
“At some point, we were relaxed. We played irresponsibly. That resulted in us playing an unce…
Keep on reading: Gilas Pilipinas bows to Serbia in close loss