USA vs. Gilas Pilipinas: Score and Reaction from 2015 William Jones Cup

Although Iran clinched the 2015 William Jones Cup gold medal Saturday, Gilas Pilipinas made a statement of their own by defeating the United States 78-74 to move into second place.

USA Overtake-Select made a late run in the fourth quarter by outscoring the Philippines 27-18, but after having already built up a 13-point advantage, Gilas had enough cushion to survive and move to within one victory of winning the silver medal.

Calvin Abueva was the go-to guy for the Philippines Saturday as he scored a team-high 20 points, while Sonny Thoss and Gary David added 13 points apiece, which allowed Gilas to move to 5-2.

The United States was once again carried by its star trio of Marquin Chandler, Cory Bradford and Calvin Warner as they combined for 56 of the team's 74 points in a losing effort that dropped it to 3-4.

The biggest difference—as has been the case often for Gilas throughout the tournament—was bench scoring as the Philippines held a 32-8 advantage in that regard.

Gilas were without two of their top offensive contributors in Terrence Romeo and Jayson Castro, which also meant they didn't have a true ball-handler in the backcourt, per Carlo Pamintuan of Sports5:

Abueva and Ranidel de Ocampo picked up the slack, though, and they were able to exceed head coach Tab Baldwin's expectations, according to Musong R. Castillo of Inquirer.net:

The Philippines knew entering the day that it would need some help from Russia in order to remain in the running for its first William Jones Cup gold medal since 2012, but Iran simply proved too strong.

Gilas Pilipinas have put themselves in position for their first-ever silver medal at the William Jones Cup, though, and Baldwin seemed pleased with the effort his team put forth to get there:

If Gilas are going to clinch the silver, however, there is still plenty of work to be done. The Philippines will face Chinese Taipei B Sunday in the final game of the tournament for both teams.

It looks like an easy win on paper for Gilas since the host team is the only winless side remaining, but that means there will be extra motivation for it to come out on top.

As for Team USA, it can be argued that the 2015 William Jones Cup has been a disappointment, but the squad has shown some promise as well.

The United States was the only team to beat Iran, and it never stopped fighting against the Philippines even when the situation looked dire.

Team USA hasn't won gold at the William Jones Cup since 2006, and although that drought will extend through 2015, the Americans have some positives to build upon leading up to the 2016 edition.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.