Gilas Pilipinas falls short vs Turkey

Gilas Pilipinas coach Tim Cone gives instructions to his players during the team's friendly match against Turkey early Friday morning. SBP PHOTO

GILAS Pilipinas hung tough against a tall and hot-shooting Turkey side before dropping an 84-73 decision in their tune-up game early Friday morning (Philippine time) in Istanbul.

Trailing by as many as 10 points in the final period, naturalized player Justin Brownlee sealed a searing 11-2 run with a three-pointer to push Gilas Pilipinas to within 66-68.

But Turkey, ranked 24th in the world, just proved too much in the final minutes when it uncorked a 16-7 windup to outlast a fighting Philippine team.

The Filipinos, who are using the first of two friendly matches in Europe as part of their FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament buildup, struggled from the three-point zone after making just 5-of-17 overall.

That's in sharp contrast to the host squad which knocked down 14 triples in a massive shooting display to bring down Gilas Pilipinas.

Brownlee led Gilas with 21 points, but characterized the shooting struggles of the Philippine team in the three-point arc after making just 1-of-7.

Seven-time PBA Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo churned out a double-double of 17 points and 10 boards.

No other Gilas player scored in double figures with youngsters Carl Tamayo and Kai Sotto chipping in seven points apiece.

Dwight Ramos, who has been given a bigger responsibility in setting up the offense, had a good all around performance with eight rebounds and seven assists but struggled with his scoring as he netted only four points.

EuroLeague veteran and 2023 NBA draftee Tarik Biberovic led Turkey with 23 points behind a 5-of-9 shooting from the three-point range.

The Philippines managed to keep the game close but Turkey took advantage of the Filipinos' penchant to foul, with the host squad going 18 of 22 from the free throw line.

"It was a tough loss against Turkey. We had our first taste of the type of opposition we will be facing in the OQT," said Gilas team manager Richard del Rosario in a statement posted at the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas website.

"While others may see it as a satisfying first game, our team mindset is — almost is not enough. We only have one shot at make it to the Olympics and we cannot be satisfied with almost winning. We move on to the next game with a firmer belief that we can hold our own against higher ranked teams with a real chance of reaching our mission of making it to Paris."

The 37th ranked Philippines closes its two-game friendly against Poland, ranked 15th in the world, on Saturday at midnight (Manila time).

The Philippines will face world No. 6 Latvia in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament at Arena Riga on July 4, followed by No. 23 Georgia on July 5.