The Gilas Pilipinas Men’s Basketball Team has won a thrilling buzzer-beater game against South Korea in their first of two matches at the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers.
Team Philippines’ SJ Belangel completed a 3-point shot in the last second of the game, lifting the national squad to an 81-78 routing of the South Koreans in their match held in Clark City on June 16, 2021.
The Gilas Pilipinas team started slow and even trailed by 17 points but fought bravely to get back into the game powered by 7’3″ center Kai Sotto, debuting Ange Kuome, and a rally led by Dwight Ramos.
With the final quarter seemingly headed into overtime at 78-all, Belengel sunk the three-pointer just as the buzzer went off to give the Philippines the victory.
The win firmed up Gilas Pilipinas’ first rank in Group A now with a 4-0 record placing the team in a good position to claim that direct qualification spot. The other teams in the group Korea, Indonesia, and Thailand.
The Philippine National Team first dominated Indonesia in Jakarta in February 2020 and afterward had a two-game run against Thailand in Bahrain when the games resumed in November 2020.
The Philippines is hosting the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, taking over for Qatar which earlier hosted the games of groups A, B, and E, but canceled the remaining games due to the Covid 19 restrictions.
After three windows, the top two teams from each group will qualify for the FIBA Asia Cup 2021.
Catch Gilas Pilipinas’ games Live on TV5, One Sports+ and Gigafest.smart at the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers:
– June 18 vs Indonesia at 6 p.m.
– June 20 vs South Korea at 3 p.m
WATCH the buzzer-beating 3-point shot here and SEND CHEERS in the comments below to Gilas Pilipinas for winning against South Korea!
https://twitter.com/FIBAAsiaCup/status/1405141993383071746
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