ALLAN THE MAN

Gilas Pilipinas trailed Argentina, 38-43, at the end of the first half of a thrilling Fiba World Cup game highlighted by some highlight-reel moments for the Philippines on Monday night. 

The hot-starting Filipinos took an early 12-2 lead after back-to-back three-pointers by Jayson Castro then controlled most of the first half against an Argentina team ranked No. 3 in the world just behind Team USA and host Spain.

The mighty fighting heart of team captain Jimmy Alapag carried the Philippines in the fourth quarter, but the team could not quite get over the hump against traditional world power Argentina to drop an 85-81 heartbreaker early Tuesday morning in Seville, Spain.

Gilas Pilipinas dropped its third straight loss in the 2014 FIBA World Cup, with this one perhaps the most painful.

The Gilas Pilipinas, Philippine national men’s basketball team, hung tough against a mighty Greece squad but just couldn’t pull out the stops to yield an 82-70 result in the FIBA Basketball World Cup on Sunday (Monday morning Philippine time) in Seville, Spain.

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) has already sought the assistance of FIBA, the world's governing body in basketball, to help them clarify matters with the Olympic Committee of Asia (OCA) regarding Andray Blatche's eligibility for the upcoming Asian Games.

The OCA has reportedly questioned the Philippines' move to field the NBA player together with Gilas Pilipinas, citing their three-year residency rule on naturalized players.

Less than 24 hours after losing to world number five Greece, the Philippine men's national basketball team will find itself back on the hardcourt. At 11:30 PM tonight, Gilas-Pilipinas will be facing Argentina hoping to pull a surprise against FIBA's third ranked team.

Ticket prices for the Manila leg of the International Premiere Tennis League were released Monday, with fans getting an opportunity to see their favorite tennis players for as little as Php 2,900 at Mall of Asia Arena from November 28 to 30.

The four-team tennis tournament will see some of the best tennis players representing four countries. Maria Sharapova will join Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Carlos Moya, Kirsten Flipkens, Daniel Nestor and Fil-Am doubles veteran Treat Huey in the Manila Mavericks team.

The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) has told FIBA that it plans to join the bid to host the 2019 FIBA World Cup of Basketball.

Businessman and SBP president Manny Pangilinan said he met with FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann during the FIBA World Congress in Seville last Friday.