MANILA – Türkiye beat Gilas Pilipinas, 84-73, in a tune-up game in Istanbul on Friday, part of the Filipinos’ preparation for their final Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT).
Justin Brownlee scored 21 points while June Mar Fajardo had 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Carl Tamayo and Kai Sotto contributed seven points apiece. Dwight Ramos only had four points, but produced eight rebounds and seven assists.
EuroLeague veteran and 2023 NBA Draftee Tarik Biberovic led Türkiye with 23 points on 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range.
Turkiye, which took a 42-40 halftime lead, made 18 of 22 free throws with Fajardo and Sotto combining for nine personal fouls.
Gilas only had seven free throw attempts.
Turkiye also produced 14 triples, one coming from Biberovic, to post an 81-73 advantage in the closing minutes.
“It was a tough loss against Turkey. We had our first taste of the type of opposition we will be facing in the OQT,” Gilas team manager Richard Del Rosario said.
“While others may see it as a satisfying first game, our team mindset is -- almost is not enough. We only have one shot at make it to the Olympics and we cannot be satisfied with almost winning. We move on to the next game with a firmer belief that we can hold our own against higher ranked teams with a real chance of reaching our mission of making it to Paris,” he added.
Next up for Gilas is another tune-up match against a fellow Latvia OQT-bound team Poland on Saturday.
The Philippines opens its OQT campaign against the host nation on July 4.