Trending! Live Updates: Gilas Pilipinas bows out to Akatsuki Five of Japan in FIBA Asia Cup 2022

 A devastating result for Filipino basketball fans after a 21-point lead loss to Japan's Akatsuki Five this Tuesday, July 19 in Jakarta Indonesia.

Image courtesy of FIBA Asia Cup 2022

Manila, Philippines - Gilas Pilipinas is now out of contention in the FIBA Asia Cup 2022 after a blowout win by the Japanese' Akatsuki Five.

Image courtesy of FIBA Asia Cup 2022

Yuta Watanabe, as expected, maneuvered the Japanese team to a convincing win over the young guns of Team Philippines. Watanabe started the early assault by giving Filipinos a 16-point deficit in the first quarter while bagging a 16-point margin in the first two quarters of the game after the first half.

Entering the second half with a sweet 16 point deficit, Gilas still manage to cut the lead to 14 in the third quarter but Japanese's main guard Yuki Togashi, denied Gilas Pilipinas run by firing a couple of three's and some assists to enjoy a 14 point lead to end the third quarter.

Image courtesy of FIBA Asia Cup 2022

A heroic game for the Japanese' Yuko Nishida after firing 4 treys of his 14 points of the game. Philippines can't fought back from the hot shooting hands of Japan all night long and ended the game, 102-81 in favor of the Japanese. 

Yuki Togashi led the Japanese team with 19 points and Bobby Parks of Gilas led his team with 16 points.

Image courtesy of FIBA Asia Cup 2022

Japan will face the mighty powerhouse Australia in the semifinal match while Philippines will relegated to the classification match.

As of writing, Gilas Pilipinas has the worst finished of the tournament after 15 years and matches the 2007 Smart Gilas Pilipinas rank, lead by Asi Taulava, Jimmy Alapag and Jayjay Helterbrand in Tokushima, Japan.

Not even that, the loss to Japan today, is a heartbreaking scenario for Filipino basketball fans because after 12 years, the Japanese managed to break the curse against the Gilas Pilipinas after dominating for 12 years since 2010.

Images from: FIBA Asia Cup 2022 website