GILAS Pilipinas finished in fourth place in the 2021 King Abdullah Cup after losing to Tunisia, 80-68, in the fight for third at the Prince Hamza Hall in Amman, Jordan, Sunday.
The Philippine national men’s basketball team competed and tried hard to salvage a third-place finish in the 10th edition of the Cup but could not sustain the charge they made late in the game to bow to the Tunisians.
Carl Tamayo paced the attack of Gilas, who played without naturalized player Angelo Kouame, finishing with 14 points.
Gilas rallied back from as much as 16 points down, coming within three points, 69-66, with 4:22 left in the game.
Tunisia, however, recovered and created further separation anew from which the Philippines could not recover from.
SJ Belangel was the other Gilas player in double-digit scoring with 12 points.
Isaac Go had nine points while Dwight Ramos finished with seven.
For Tunisia, which with the win avenged its 74-73 loss in the preliminary to Gilas, it was Jawher Jawadi and Omar Abada who took charge.
Mr. Jawadi ended up with 21 points and six rebounds, while his backcourt partner Abada came through with 19 and six boards.
Host Jordan topped the five-nation, six-team pocket tournament with Egypt finishing second.
Saudi Arabia is the other team which competed in the tournament which took place from July 26 to Aug. 1. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo