But Sani Sakakini completed a three-point play off Dondon Hontiveros’ foul with 15 seconds left to snatch back the lead at 75-73.
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Gilas Pilipinas will be led by former NBA star Andray Blatche, an American naturalized Filipino citizen who plays for the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, along with the national team as a power forward/center.
Sakakini finished with 21 points.
China will hope home-court advantage can help them to their 16th FIBA Asia Championship title but defending champions Iran remain confident they can win for the fourth time in five tournaments. “Give Palestine credit”. The Philippine team was still ahead at the start of the last quarter but lost control when three of the leading scorers of Palestine suddenly became flawless in their shooting from the outside to lead their team by two points for a shocking 75-73 victory.
What was expected to be a rude welcoming by Gilas Pilipinas turned into an opening day shocker for newcomer Palestine.
Shamala led the Palestine team under coach Jerry Steele with 26 points and 15 rebounds while Sakakini had 22 points and 14 rebounds.
The defeat was a bad one in terms of confidence for the Philippines due to its status as one of the top contenders for a spot in the 2016 Summer Olympics, but it isn’t necessarily devastating to its chances.
Hong Kong, meanwhile, scored a 37-point win, beating Kuwait 87-50.
Three teams advance out of each group, and since the Philippines is in a group with a couple of other lower-level teams in the form of Hong Kong and Kuwait, things can certainly be turned around in a hurry.
Gilas will face Hong Kong today at 9:30 a.m.in their second game.
As per FIBA.com, though they began a bit late in preparing for the tournament, they have gained great experience in battling teams like Estonia, Iceland and Netherlands and have been improving with each game.
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