GILAS Pilipinas 3x3 rammed into a great wall and yielded an 11-21 loss to China to settle for second spot in Group C of the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup Saturday night in Singapore.
With this result, the Chinese topped the group with 2-0 while the Philippines, gaining from its 21-17 triumph over Singapore earlier in the day, took the No. 2 seeding with 1-1 en route to a trip to the quarterfinals.
PBA 3x3 stalwarts Almond Vosotros, Lervin Flores, Samboy de Leon and Joseph Eriobu, as Group C No. 2, arranged a tough showdown with Group A topnotcher Mongolia for a semifinal ticket.
China will face Group A second-placer Korea in the Last-8.
In a battle for the group's top ranking, the Filipinos found themselves in a deep 11-3 hole early on as China's towers led by 6-foot-7 Zeyi Liu and 6-foot-8 Jiayi Zhao asserted themselves.
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Gilas 3x3 got to within 17-11 on a De Leon two-ball but the Chinese quickly extinguished the fire with Junhu Lyu scoring on a putback off his own miss, Jiayi Zhao notching their 19th point and Zhao's twin Jiaren nailing the clincher from deep.
Flores led the Philippines with four points as Vosotros finished with three and De Leon and Eriobu shot two apiece in the setback.(OL)
