Dwight Ramos says Gilas couldn’t handle Boomers’ pressure in loss

Gilas Pilipinas’ Dwight Ramos during the pregame introductions against Australia in the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers in Perth.–FIBA PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Dwight Ramos conceded that Australia’s pressure on Gilas Pilipinas proved to be too much in Monday’s Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

Gilas went down 92-49 in Perth to wrap up the first round with a 2-4 record after being forced to 19 turnovers by the Boomers.

Australia converted those errors into 30 points, adding to Gilas’ misery.

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“Australia had amazing pressure up the court, giving us trouble,” Ramos said. “It was very difficult. We had a lot of turnovers in the backcourt and then when we were able to get across halfcourt, shot clock was low, forced us to bad shots, and then obviously throughout the game it wears us down.

“And obviously, the efficiency of our offense goes down with all that pressure. And also the decision making, so it’s credit to their defense, it really made us struggle today,” added the dashing forward.

Ramos was actually Gilas’ topscorer with nine points, which was another evidence of Australia’s efficient defense.

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Even with that number, Ramos struggled shooting the ball making just four out of 16 attempts.

“I’m just playing the game, you know, I’m out there. I was taking the ball up, trying to initiate the offense and at the same time guarding (Tyrese) Proctor. Tough matchup, he’s a good player,” he said.

“I struggled a little bit on offense but that’s because of Australia’s defense and yeah, I just got to get better in that moving forward.”