RJ Abarrientos steals show as Gilas wraps up Fiba 3×3 Asia Cup on high note

RJ Abarrientos is Gilas’ star in Day 2 of Fiba 3×3 Asia Cup. Photo from Fiba

MANILA, Philippines—-After a winless first day, Gilas Pilipinas bounced back with a couple of victories on Thursday, but still failed to get a ride to the next round of the Fiba 3×3 Asia Cup in Changsan, China.

The Filipinos wound up in second place of Qualifying Draw A with a 2-2 record, but only the top team in the group will advance to the main draw with that distinction belonging to undefeated Qatar.

But Gilas Pilipinas, seeded 15th in the event, made most of the second day of competition, kicking it off a 21-19 thriller over Iran courtesy of RJ Abarrientos’ explosion.

Abarrientos scored 18 of the Philippines’ points including the buzzer-beater that sunk the Iranians.

After losing both games yesterday, 🇵🇭The Philippines🇵🇭 went undefeated on their second day of competition 💪 at the #3x3Asia 🏆 pic.twitter.com/cRaiEXuevb

— FIBA3x3 (@FIBA3x3) May 23, 2019

The Filipinos played without substitutions as Ricci Rivero remained out of commission after suffering an ankle injury on Wednesday.

Ali Allahverdi and Amirhossein Azari had six points apiece for Iran.

Abarrientos once again lit up the scoreboard for the Filipinos, putting up 14 points to lead them to the 22-15 victory over Samoa to cap off their campaign.

Rhayyan Amsali had six points while Barkley Eboña added two to help Abarrientos’ outburst.