Gilas Pilipinas battled hard but could not make the winning plays down the stretch, falling to Dominican Republic, 81-87, in its FIBA World Cup opening game at the Philippine Arena on Friday, August 25.
The Filipinos kept in step with the Dominicans but failed to capitalize on key possessions as the latter squeezed out a win, with Montero delivering the icing on the cake with a layup, 86-79, in the last 14.8 seconds.
Jordan Clarkson poured 28 points but he fouled out with still 3:32 left and the home team could not hold on in front of a World Cup record 38,115 fans.NBA superstar Karl Anthony-Towns dropped 26 points to carry the fight for the away team, which joined Italy in the winning column with a 1-0 slate each in Group A.The Philippines fell to 0-1 and would have to win its two remaining games to give itself a shot at finishing top two and advancing to the next phase.
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