Gilas drops Asiad opener

Gilas Pilipinas absorbed an 85-89 loss to Bahrain in a disappointing start to its gold medal defense in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games on Friday at the Aichi International Arena.

Late addition Calvin Oftana exploded for 31 points but wasn’t enough to save the all-local Gilas side.

Oftana, who arrived in Japan on Wednesday to replace injured naturalized player Justin Brownlee, shot 11-of-19 from the field while Adrian Nocum added 14 markers, seven rebounds and five assists but had to leave the game with 1:51 left in the game after twisting his right ankle.

Justine Baltazar has 10 points and six rebounds, Don Trollano got nine points, eight rebounds and four assists while Justin Arana scored eight for Gilas.

Gilas went down by 16 in the third quarter but was able to fightback and cut the deficit to 85-89 with 11.2 seconds left on a Don Trollano triple. However, the Philippines’ comeback came a little too late as Bahrain avenged its rout in the group stage of the pandemic-delayed Hangzhou edition three years ago.

The Bahrainis came out of halftime with guns blazing and built a 64-48 lead with 5:32 left off an Ali Alhaddad basket. Bahrain outscored Gilas in the third canto, 27-18.

Bahrain answered Gilas’ second-quarter rally from 10 points down to take a 43-41 lead after a Justine Baltazar fastbreak basket with 1:28 left with back-to-back treys for a 47-41 advantage entering the half.

Gilas will try to bounce back on Saturday against Kazakhstan at 6 p.m. (Manila time).

Naturalized player Jakkar Sampson led Bahrain with a near triple-double of 24 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists. Elijah Thomas, another naturalized Bahraini, had 20 points while Mustafa Rashed finished with 20 markers.

Bahrain battles China, which routed the Kazakhs, 99-61, for the solo lead also on Saturday.