Oftana’s 31-point eruption not enough as Gilas Pilipinas opens Asiad title defense losing to Bahrain

Gilas Pilipinas put up a valiant stand in the second quarter, but Bahrain launched a powerful second-half assault as the Nationals opened their Asian Games title defense with an 89-85 defeat on Friday at the Aichi International Arena in Japan.

Last-minute addition Calvin Oftana poured in 14 points in the first half, highlighted by his strong drive to the basket that sparked the Philippines’ comeback from a 21-31 deficit to a 41-41 deadlock.

Justine Baltazar put the Philippines ahead, 43-41 with 1:38 left to play in the second period, but Bahrain was quick to finish the half leading, 49-43.

The hot-shooting Bahrainis were on their way to the rout after inflating a 64-48 cushion behind a 15-5 run in the third canto, until the Filipinos fueled a fiery fourth quarter fightback.

Gilas forced a turnover that set up Don Trollano for a wide-open three and gave them a slice of hope in the final 11.9 seconds, 85-89.

Gilas ran out of time in reversing the result even though Haji Ahmed missed his two free throws for Bahrain in the next sequence.

Oftana finished with a game-high 31 points built on six three-pointers.

Adrian Nocum had an impressive national team debut with 14 points, but he exited the game with 1:51 remaining due to a knee sprain after stepping on the foot of Elijah Thomas.

Baltazar and Trollano added 10 and nine markers, respectively for Gilas.

The twin towers of naturalized players Jakarr Sampson and Elijah Thomas churned out 24 and 20 points, respectively to lead Bahrain, which also got 20 markers from Rashed Mustafa, who hit four from the three-point area.

Gilas will next face Kazakhstan in a must-win game on Saturday, September 12.

Bahrain, on the other hand, will take on China for the lead in Pool C.

China crushed Kazakhstan, 99-61.