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What Senegal’s upset win over Croatia means for Gilas Pilipinas

Senegal celebrates after scoring an upset victory over Croatia. (Photo from FIBA.com)

Led by NBA player Gorgui Dieng, Senegal scored one of the biggest upsets in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup so far as they defeated Croatia, 77-75, in a thrilling down-the-wire game.

Senegal’s Dieng played all 40 minutes of the game and scored 27 points while adding eight rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal.

The African country led most of the way but Croatia tried to put together one final rally late in the fourth quarter. The Senegalese, however, were steady on the free throw line to hold on to the victory.

This is Senegal’s second straight win after also defeating Puerto Rico in their last outing. As of the moment, Senegal holds the same 2-1 record as Croatia. Greece tops Group B with a perfect 2-0 tally.

Puerto Rico and the Philippines now occupy the fifth and sixth spots in the rankings as they hold similar 0-2 win-loss records as of this writing.

It was an astounding victory because Croatia was coming off a win versus Argentina in their last meeting. Even after Senegal defeated Puerto Rico, few saw an upset coming.

Senegal’s win also sent shockwaves to the rest of Group B. It would have been best for the Philippines if Senegal lost all of its games. In this situation, if Gilas defeated Puerto Rico and Senegal, they will advance to the round-of-16 without a hitch.

Now, the path to the next round is much harder.

Winning all of their remaining games will guarantee Gilas a spot in the next round.

However, even if Gilas loses to Argentina, they could still qualify for the next round as long as they defeat Puerto Rico and Senegal, and if Senegal loses to Argentina too.

In this scenario, Gilas and Senegal would finish with 2-3 records. FIBA follows the win-over-the-other breaker in case of ties. However, if Puerto Rico upsets both Croatia and Greece to force a triple tie, the matter would be more complicated as the quotient between the three teams will be computed.

One thing, however, is for sure. The Philippines could not afford to rest Andray Blatche against Argentina. Some basketball analysts opined that Blatche should sit out one game to prepare for more winnable games against Puerto Rico and Senegal but the latter’s handsome win threw this out of the equation.