Gilas Pilipinas suffered a 62-108 loss at the hands of Italy in Day One of the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup at the Foshan International Sports & Cultural Arena on Saturday, August 31.
The Italians started out strong with 6-of-8 three-point shooting and built a 37-8 after the first period.
The Philippine national basketball team had no answer for Italy’s 3-point shooting and could not recover from a very slow start.
The Philippines, who missed its first 17 three-point shots, finally nailed a three with 7:02 left in the fourth quarter.
Italy finished with 15-of-31 from beyond the arc compared to Gilas' 3-for-23 clip.
(Video by ESPN5)
Luigi Datome, Amedeo Della Valle and Danilo Gallinari led Italy with 17, 17 and 16 points, respectively.
Andray Blatche scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, but committed nine of Gilas’ total of 23 turnovers.
CJ Perez, who provided a positive presence for Philippines, tallied 15 markers and three assists.
June Mar Fajardo contributed nine points, six rebounds, two steals, and one block.
The Philippines will next face Serbia on Monday.
The Scores:
Italy 108 – Datome 17, Della Valle 17, Gallinari 16, Belinelli 9, Tessitori 9, Biligha 8, Brooks 8, Filloy 7, Hackett 7, Gentile 6, Abass 2, Vitali 2.
Philippines 62 – Blatche 15, Perez 15, Fajardo 9, Bolick 6, Ravena 5, Rosario 2, Aguilar 2, Almazan 2, Barroca 2, Pogoy 2, Lee 2, Norwood 0.
Quarter Scores: 37-8, 62-24, 85-39, 108-62.