Gilas Pilipinas ended its preparations for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament on a strong note as they just fell short against Poland, 82-80, in their final tuneup match.
Justin Brownlee led all scorers with 30 points on an efficient 12 of 20 shooting from the field. He was backed up by Dwight Ramos who rebounded with a solid shooting performance as he finished with 16 points, anchored on 4 of 7 shooting from the three-point range, while also adding nine rebounds and five assists.
Gilas had a fiery start in the game as they led by as many as nine points, 23-14 after back to back buckets from June Mar Fajardo.
Poland battled back in the second period with a triple from Mateusz Ponitka tying the count at 33-all.
The Spain OQT-bound Polish side 41-38 at the half thanks to a 25-15 second quarter.
The third period was all about Poland trying to break the game wide open and the Philippine team fighting back to keep it close.
The Polish players seemed to have finally figured it all out in the fourth as they built a double-digit lead for the first time, 67-56, after a layup from Andrzej Pluta.
They stretched their lead to its highest at 14 points midway through the final quarter. But this was when Ramos finally caught fire to lead a comeback bid for Gilas. He dropped 10 points in the final four minutes of the match to keep the Philippines in it.
A free throw from Chris Newsome got Gilas within four points, 82-78, but they came up empty on their next possession and Poland did a great job of running down the clock. CJ Perez made a layup to trim their deficit to just two points but there was not enough time remaining for another possession.
Michael Sokolowski led Poland with 21 points with Aleksander Balcerowski adding 10 markers. Jeremy Sochan of the San Antonio Spurs had eight points and four rebounds on 12 minutes of action.
Fajardo had another double-digit scoring performance with 10 points on just five shots while Kai Sotto had a tremendous all around effort with eight points, 11 rebounds, five assists, and a block.
Poland was coming off a 88-59 drubbing of New Zealand in their last tuneup game so they were pushed harder by the Philippines.
“We were good against Turkey, we were better against Poland, but we have to be at our best from here on out,” said Gilas team manager Richard del Rosario after the game.
“We need to limit our turnovers and get locked in defensively. It’s not just about competing, it’s all about winning. We leave for Riga tomorrow and all our focus will be on Latvia and Georgia. We will put them under the microscope and look for ways to win.”