REGARDLESS of the result of the Philippines’ last match against Jordan last Sunday night, this year’s International Basketball Federation (Fiba) Asia Cup will fall as the country’s worst finish in eight years.
Gilas Pilipinas lost steam and the fighting heart it showed in the group stages when it bowed to host Lebanon, 87-106, last Sunday, and was relegated to the battle for seventh place against Jordan.
The eighth-place finish will not stand as the poorest for the country since the Yeng Guiao-coached national team also wound up eighth in 2009 in Tianjin, China.
Assembled as one of the best Philippine Basketball Association-backed squad with almost all of the nationals at the their prime of their careers, the team failed to meet expectations when the team was knocked out by longtime rival South Korea, 80-82, in their last preliminary match.
The team had Most Valuable Players Willie Miller (2002), Asi Taulava (2003), James Yap (2006), Jayjay Helterbrand (2009) and then soon-to-be MVP Arwind Santos (2013).
That bitter experience results to the birth of the Gilas Pilipinas program of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.
Since then, five versions of the Gilas program under Rajko Toroman, Tab Baldwin and current Head Coach Chot Reyes never finished the Asian tournament poorer than fourth and enjoyed the third best ranking in Asia at No. 27 in the world behind China (14) and Iran (25).
Powered by veterans but handicapped by the absence of naturalized player Andray Blatche and a hobbled June Mar Fajardo, Gilas swept Group B with rousing wins over China (96-87), Iraq (84-68) and Qatar (80-74).
After drawing a bye toward the quarterfinals, misfortunes struck the team with a stinging 86-118 loss to South Korea and to the hosts.
Terrence Romeo led the team with an average of 18.8 points per game. Japeth Aguilar was tops in rebounding with 6.2 boards while Jayson Castro was No. 1 in assists with 5.2 per game.
Reyes has insisted that the Fiba Asia Cup is more of a preparation for the team for the home-and-away qualifying for the 2019 Fiba World Cup, which starts in November.
In the home-and-away competition, the Philippines was drawn with Australia, Japan and Chinese Taipei in Group B.