MANILA, Philippines – Puso, GILAS! The Philippines’ journey in the second Doha Invitational Cup came to an end on a losing note early Monday morning (Manila time), as they were unable to keep up with a more towering and hot-shooting Egypt team, which resulted in a score of 86-55 by the Philippines.

After winning the first quarter by a razor-thin margin of 19-18, the Pharaohs were able to outscore the Filipinos in the second quarter by a score of 21-9.

That telling run proved to be the beginning of the end for the national team, which suddenly trailed by 11 points at the half and never recovered, much to the despair of the pro-Filipino fans that packed the Qatar University Sports and Events Complex for the third consecutive night.

As a result of the fact that no other Filipino players were able to score in double digits, Justine Brownlee was the only player on Gilas to have a positive performance. She had 18 points and five rebounds.

The Gilas finished their participation in the three-game friendly with a record of 1-2, with their lone victory coming on the opening day of the competition against the host Qatar, which they won 74-71.

Egypt, who finished the tournament with a perfect 3-0 record, was led by Ehab Amin Saleh, who shot four of eight from three-point range and finished with twenty points. Egypt emerged as the top program in the event.

Amr Zahran contributed 12 points by shooting two-of-four from outside the arc, and big man Omar Tarek Oraby contributed ten points by hitting a perfect two-of-two from beyond the arc. Furthermore, the 38th-ranked Pharaohs shot 11-of-32 from beyond the arc.

Back-to-back three-pointers from the 7-foot-2 Oraby highlighted Egypt’s surge in the second quarter, which allowed them to take the lead for good.

Lebanon finished one spot ahead of Gilas Pilipinas in the standings after securing a victory over Qatar in the opening game by a score of 72-69. This victory was earned with a lot of hard work and effort. With back-to-back victories, including a decisive 75-54 victory over Gilas just one day earlier, the Cedars finished their season with a record of 2-1. This was the culmination of their entire campaign.

The host nation of Qatar, on the other hand, did not manage to secure a victory in the competition, and as a result, they fell to the bottom of the standings after suffering their third consecutive loss. In spite of their best efforts, the Qataris were unable to keep up with their rivals and were unsuccessful in situations that were extremely important.

Gilas Pilipinas is scheduled to arrive back in Manila by the late evening of Monday, and then promptly embark for Chinese Taipei the following day. In the third and final window of the FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers, which will be contested in China, the national team will compete against other teams from across the world.

A battle against Taiwan is slated to take place on the 21st, and then the Filipinos will go to Auckland for a match versus New Zealand on the 23rd, which is a contest that is widely anticipated. It will be extremely important for Gilas to win these future games if they want to improve their standing in the qualifiers and earn a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup.

Because there is not much time for Gilas to recover, he will need to make quick adjustments and concentrate his attention on the problems that lie ahead. There will be a significant impact on their place in the event as well as their chances of moving on to the subsequent stage of competition based on how well they do in the next two matches.

Scores at the end of the match

Egypt with 86 points for the win

Individual scores: Saleh 20, Zahran 12, Aboushousha 11, Orabi 10, Taha Mohamed 8, Mahmoud 7, Abelgawad 5, Metwaly 5, Elmekawi 4, Abdellatif 2, Nasr 2, Shehata 0.

Philippines with 55 points

Brownlee 18, Tamayo 9, Thompson 6, Edu 6, Ramos 6, Fajardo 5, Quiambao 3, Perez 1, Newsome 1, Malonzo 0, Amos 0, Oftana 0.

Scores per quarter

18-19: 39-28; 57-45; 86-55.