Top 4 windup for Gilas 3x3

Gilas Pilipinas came through with a memorable showing in the 2022 FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup, stunning top seed Mongolia, 21-20, in the quarterfinals before hitting the end of the road with a loss to New Zealand, 13-21, in the Last Four of the regional meet in Singapore yesterday.

After making the main draw from the qualifiers, Gilas continued to make heads turn as they broke the hearts of the Mongolians in the Last Eight.

Almond Vosotros extended his fine play in the playoffs, drilling the game-winner with stil 1:34 to play as Gilas capped off a stunning comeback win against Mongolia, which is the top-ranked federation in Asia and No. 6 in the world.

The PBA 3x3 scoring champion uncorked eight points in that match, where Gilas trailed 18-20 in the last two minutes, before splitting his charity that led to his another heroic rise as the Asia Cup’s revelation.

Samboy de Leon (7), Joseph Eriobu (5) and Lervin Flores (1) threw in contributions, especially on defense in Gilas’ big victory against the powerhouse Mongolian squad that ruled the Asia Cup in 2017.

The Nationals’ title aspiration ended there, though, as they went down against the Kiwis in the semis.

The Kiwis took the fight out of the Filipinos right off the bat with a 12-5 lead en route to a wire-to-wire finish.

In the bronze-medal match at presstime, the Nationals were playing China, which bowed to Australia in the other semis pairing, 21-13.

Gilas worked its way to the main competition with wins over Jordan and Indonesia.

Then Philippine team split its main draw campaign with a win against Singapore and a loss against China, paving the way for a knockout quarterfinal matchup with Mongolia.

– John Bryan Ulanday