Winless Gilas Pilipinas Exit 2019 FIBA World Cup with 95-75 Loss to Iran

Gilas Pilipinas' nightmare 2019 FIBA World Cup came to an end on Sunday with another loss, this time against Iran. The final score was 95-75. 

Iran opened up a lead late in the first quarter and kept building, dominating on the glass and interior. Hamed Haddadi finished with 19 points, leading the team.

Both teams were relegated to the classification round after winless campaigns in the preliminary round.

Iran opened the contest with a quick 6-0 run, before Andray Blatche put Gilas on the board with a three-pointer.

The team's long-range shooting has been a major problem throughout the tournament, but early on, Gilas found success against Iran from three, per sports writer JC Ansis:

The two sides were closely matched for much of the first quarter, but a 7-0 run from Iran gave the team their first real gap, and they ran with it. Strong work on the inside gave them a 30-24 lead by the end of the quarter.

Blatche was doing work on the defensive end:

The second quarter belonged to Iran, who dominated on the offensive glass and quickly built a double-digit lead. Gilas' shooting from outside went cold, and the team couldn't deal with Iran's physicality, giving away far too many foul shots, per sports writer Chuck Araneta:

Iran's efficiency stood in stark contract of Gilas' woes; the team didn't make a single three-pointer in the second quarter and trailed their opponents by a double-digit margin in both rebounds and points in the paint.

At half-time, the score was 48-34, and Gilas' final chance of grabbing a win this tournament already seemed gone.

The third quarter started with another Gilas personal foul inside the first 10 seconds, signaling more trouble on the interior. Before long, Iran led by 20 points, using the same formula of strong rebounding and second-chance points.

Gilas improved slightly from deep, but could never put together a solid run without getting into foul trouble. The lead continued to grow and was up to 25 points by the end of the third quarter.

The Filipino team didn't put up much resistance in the final quarter, and the gap between the two teams grew toward 30 points before a late run brought it back down.

With five losses in five tries, Gilas will finish the tournament near the bottom, and could end up last depending on how other results play out.