THE Philippines teetered before surviving Jordan, 75-70, late Sunday night to finish seventh in the International Basketball Federation Asia Cup in Beirut.
And finishing below expectations in Lebanon was just a teaser to a tougher ride ahead for Gilas.
In the more important tournament this November—the qualifiers for the 2019 Fiba World Cup—the Philippines will be grouped with Australia, the Oceania powerhouse that topped the Beirut tournament by routing Iran, a former Asian champion, 79-56.
South Korea continued to play with the same intensity and accurary that gave them convincing wins over New Zealand and the Philippines earlier in the tournament and repeated over the Kiwis, 80-71, to bag third place.
Terrence Romeo and Japeth Aguilar needed to step up in the closing seconds to frustrate the Jordanians, who played heads up almost throughout against a Gilas side that no longer had Filipino-German Christian Standhardinger, who is with the Gilas Cadets in the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur.
It will take the Gilas program some two months to prepare for the World Cup qualifiers, where Australia stand in waiting.
Australia did not actually send its best team to Beirut. Absent were National Basketball Association players Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova, all veterans of last year’s Rio Olympics.
Also bracketed in Group B are Chinese Taipei and Japan. Australia moved one rung up to No. 10 following its conquest of the Fiba Asia Cup. Oceania teams Australia and New Zealand were incorporated by Fiba to Asia.