Hard-fighting Gilas Pilipinas fell short of landing a podium finish in the FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup, dropping a close 18-20 setback to China in the battle for bronze Sunday night in Singapore.
Lacking in size but not in heart, the Filipinos fought the taller Chinese tooth and nail and even gave themselves a chance to force overtime or even steal it outright but ran out of time.
China got on the hill on back-to-back inside buckets by Zeyi Liu sandwiching a baseline attack by Jiaren Zhao, 20-16, with still 40 seconds to play.
Samboy de Leon cut the deficit in half on a big two-ball and the brave Pinoy ballers forced the Chinese to either miss or lose possession the rest of the way.
However, rifleman Almond Vosotros missed a pair of chances to knot the count from deep as China escaped with the bronze.
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The fourth place finish capped a generally strong campaign by the PBA 3x3-powered Gilas, which came out of the Qualifying Draw to fight for a medal.
Vosotros, de Leon, Lervin Flores and Joseph Eriobu swept their qualifiers against Jordan, 21-19, and Indonesia, 21-15.
They split their assignments in Group C of the main tournament, beating Singapore 21-13, before losing to China, 21-11, to finish No. 2 in the group and qualify for the quarterfinals.
Gilas pulled off a shocking 21-20 upset of top seed Mongolia to advance against New Zealand, which handed it a 13-21 loss in the semis. (OL)
