Fiba 3×3 Asia Cup: Gilas loses to China, faces Mongolia in quarters

The Philippines’ Almond Vosotros during a game against Singapore in the Fiba 3×3 Asia Cup. Photo by Fiba

MANILA, Philippines—Gilas Pilipinas 3×3 team suffered an 11-21 loss to a tall China side in the 2022 Fiba 3×3 Asia Cup on Saturday in Singapore.

Zeyi Liu and Jiaren Zhao’s size proved too much as they led the Chinese in beating the Filipinos to complete a Pool C sweep in the main draw and set a quarterfinal duel against Pool A second seed South Korea on Sunday.

Liu and Zhao dominated Gilas right from the get-go with a 5-0 start before the former stretched it to a nine-point spread with his and1 play, 13-4.

Lervin Flores scored all of his four points to cut down the deficit to 15-9 before China’s towering pair stopped the bleeding and maintained their gap, 19-11.

Liu finished with game-high nine points, while Zhao added six points, including the game-winning deuce that ended the match with 1:36 to spare.

The Philippines finished 1-1 in Pool C including a 21-17 win over Singapore earlier.

Gilas will face World No. 6 Mongolia in the quarterfinals on Sunday at 3:25 p.m.

Vosotros had three points, while Samboy de Leon and Joseph Eriobu added two markers each.

The Scores:

First game

Philippines 21 – Flores 6, Vosotros 6, de Leon 5, Eriobu 4.

Singapore 17 – JY Lim 7, WK Lim 6, Mah 4, Tan 0.

Second game

CHINA 21 — Liu 9, Zhao Jr 6, Zhao Jy 5, Lyu 1.

PHILIPPINES 11 — Flores 4, Vosotros 3, de Leon 2, Eriobu 2.