Gilas salvages 7th place with 84-68 win over Mongolia

Gilas Pilipinas salvaged some measure of pride, ending its disastrous Asian Games campaign on a  winning note with an 84-68 win over Mongolia in their playoff for seventh place.

Already out of the medal race and reduced to a seventh-place game after bowing to China last Monday, GIlas started out flat and even trailed the surprising Mongolians, 2-11, early in the first period. Mongolia managed to hang on to a 21-18 lead after the first period and still led 29-25 early in the second before Gilas finally showed some life.

With Ranidel De Ocampo leading the way, the Filipinos dropped a 13-1 bomb to end the first half ahead 38-30. LA Tenorio gave Gilas its first double-digit spread at 40-30 with a layup to open the third period before Mongolia mounted one last run to come to within three at 52-49 with 3:18 left in the third period.

But that was as close as they could get as Gilas stepped on the gas pedal in the last quarter, outscoring Mongolia 21-13 to seal the win.

De Ocampo had his best game of the tournament with 25 points and 11 rebounds, while Tenorio, Gabe Norwood and June Mar Fajardo chipped in 11 each.

Jimmy Alapag, in what is most likely his final game for the Philippine national team, played only 15 seconds and was scoreless. Marcus Douthit also went scoreless in seven minutes of action, while Marc Pingris sat out the game with an injury.

Gilas scores:

84 - De Ocampo 25, Fajardo 11, Norwood 11, Tenorio 11, Chan 8, David 8, Aguilar 7, Dillinger 3, Lee 0, Douthit 0, Alapag 0.