Without Andray Blatche, Gilas loses to Ukraine by 50
Gilas Pilipinas took a 114-64 beating at the hands of Ukraine to close out their tuneup matches in the Bleu Blanc Tour with a 0-3 record.
A late fourth quarter run for France turned the tide to their favor against Gilas. Australia also used a late scoring spurt to turn what was a close game into a blowout.
Against Ukraine however Gilas broke down early in the second quarter. After staying close in the first 10 minutes, Gilas allowed 40 points in the second period. A five-point deficit turned into a 26-point disadvantage, which eliminated all hopes of a Gilas upset.
Gilas played without naturalized big Andray Blatche and Paul Lee who were both nursing minor injuries.
With head coach Mike Fratello giving out instructions, the much bigger Ukrainians dominated the battle of the boards, 42-25. They also shot a torrid 19 of 33 clip from the three point region. Ukraine also had more assists (27-14) and steals (11-6) compared to Gilas. They shot a scorching 58% from the field while Gilas only managed a paltry 33%.
Ukraine was led by Oleksandr Lypovyy with 16 points and seven rebounds in only 22 minutes of play. Six other Ukrainians scored in double digits in the game.
Gilas Pilipinas on the other hand only had two players in double digits with Ranidel De Ocampo getting 11 and Jeff Chan chipping in 10. Marcus Douthit led the Philippines in rebounding with eight. After him, no other Filipino had more than four caroms.
The Filipinos were only down 21-16 after the first quarter. Ukraine got its first taste of a double-digit lead at 31-19 with eight minutes remaining in the second quarter but Jeff Chan quickly answered with a triple for Gilas.
The Philippines fell behind further later in the quarter as they faced a 19-point deficit 44-25 after an alley oop dunk on the break for Ukraine. This lead further ballooned to 26, 61-35 heading into the half.
The Ukrainians stretched their lead to 31 points, 70-39, at the 7:09 mark of the third after an LA Tenorio foul led to a four point play. Lypovyy later drained Ukraine's 12th triple of the match for a 33-point advantage.
Gilas finally got something positive in the third as Japeth Aguilar got a highlight block on a Ukrainian going up for a fast break slam. The Filipinos were down 83-48 heading into the final quarter.
The last 10 minutes saw Gilas simply trying to run plays while Ukraine took it as a chance to show off their running game while giving their bench players some time on the floor.
The scores:
Ukraine 114: Lypovyy 16, Mishula 14, Zaystez 12, Mikhailiuk 12, Gladyr 11, Zabirchenko 10, Kravtsov 10, Pustosvonov 8, Jeter 7, Natyazhko 6, Korniyenko 4, Zavadskiy 4.
Philippines 64: De Ocampo 11, Chan 10, William 9, Tenorio 5, Belga 5, Dillinger 5, Alapag 3, David 3, Aguilar 2, Fajardo 2, Washington 2, Pingris 2, Norwood 0.
Quarters: 21-16, 61-35, 83-48, 114-64.
