Gilas Pilipinas suffered a tough defeat at the hands of powerhouse Mongolia, denying them an outright spot in the quarterfinals of the men’s 3×3 basketball event at the 19th Asian Games. The match took place at the Deqing Geographic Information Park in Hangzhou on Friday, September 29.
Mongolia got off to a strong start, scoring five unanswered points, with their No.8 and No.18 ranked 3×3 players, Batzaya Tsermaa and Ulzii-Orshikh Myagmarsuren, leading the charge. Despite a valiant effort from Bismarck Lina who scored seven points for Gilas, the team could only come within six points, trailing 16-10, before Mongolia secured its place in the quarterfinals. Avirmed Lhagvaa sealed the victory for Mongolia with a free throw, leaving over two minutes on the clock.
Tsermaa and Myagmarsuren finished with eight and seven points respectively, contributing to Mongolia’s 3-1 record in the pool play. Gilas Pilipinas had an equal win-loss record with Chinese Taipei but dropped to third place due to an inferior points total. The Filipinos’ first two wins didn’t reach the required 21-point threshold.
Despite the loss, the Filipinos still have a chance to win a medal. However, they will need to take a longer route to advance to the quarterfinals. Gilas must now wait for the results of the remaining pool play matches to determine their next opponent, which could be Qatar, Kazakhstan, or Thailand, the second seed of Pool D.
