Turkey rips Philippines in tuneup

Turkey gave the visiting Gilas a rude welcome with a 103-68 beatdown in a tuneup game early Wednesday (Manila time) at Abdi Ipekci Arena in Istanbul.

Gilas is in Europe for the last phase of its training camp for the upcoming Fiba Olympic Qualifying Tournament in July.

Naturalized import Andray Blatche led the Filipinos with 21 points while Jayson Catro had 15.

Gilas had no answer for the Giant Men who immediately went to work and put up a 30-19 lead in the first quarter.

Things then turned uglier by the minute for the Filipinos as they stared at a 57-32 deficit at the end of the first half.

After a week in Greece, the Filipinos flew to Turkey for their first real test against the host’s national team. They will also head Italy for a four-nation pocket tournament.