MANILA (Philippines) - South Sudan remained alive in the race for the 2024 Olympics and the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments with an 87-68 win over Philippines in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Classification 17-32 thanks to Carlik Jones nearly registering first triple-double in World Cup history.

Basketball's youngest nation showed their poise after losing to Serbia in the First Round and became the first African team in the tournament with two victories. Jones was among five South Sudanese players in double figures in the Group M game, which was the first-ever showdown between South Sudan and Philippines.

Turning Point: South Sudan opened the game with a 16-3 lead and extended the margin to as many as 17 points in the first quarter. The advantage grew to 21 points in the second quarter but the hosts wanted to reward their crowd of 9,250 at the Manila Araneta Coliseum. Philippines cut the gap to 60-56 early in the fourth quarter, but the Africans remained composed and regained control.

TCL Player of the Game: With Carlik Jones nearly registering the first-ever triple-double in history, he made an easy choice for TCL Player of the Game. The South Sudan guard scored 17 points while grabbing 9 rebounds and dishing out 14 assists and just 1 turnover. He also had 2 steals.

He could have easily grabbed his 10th rebound in the last minute of the game but his teammate took it in front of him with no player from the Philippines anywhere near the action. Jones came very very close to a historic performance.

Stats Don't Lie: South Sudan held Philippines to 35 percent shooting, including 38 percent on two-pointers. The Africans committed only 9 turnovers and got easy points with a 29-14 advantage on fast break points.

Bottom Line: South Sudan are still in the hunt for the Olympics and the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments and have a massively important game against fellow Africans Angola on Saturday September 2. Philippines are still looking for their first victory of the home World Cup and have put themselves in a tough spot for the OQTs. The hosts must beat China later Saturday to even have a chance.

They Said: "I think we need to look at the tape so we can find another rebound for him (Jones). Because maybe he got one in there, a little tip or something. Carlik has been great for us. He's our leader, he's our quarterback on and off the court. He’s a great addition. The guys love him. I love him. He’s a true leader, and that's what leaders do. They bring home the fight. He led us to victory today. He put us on his back. And we just rode the wave. Kudos to Weynen Gabriel. He had a double-double. Nuni Omot showed up in the fourth quarter and it was a collective effort from my guys. Hats off to the Philippines. They competed every play. They cut the lead to (four). They never stopped fighting. But we didn't want the same outcome as the Puerto Rico game. We put on our hard hats and competed in the fourth quarter and we came out with the victory." - South Sudan coach Royal Ivey 

"We're on the Philippines home turf. We knew eventually they'd make shots and the crowd get involved. But our biggest thing is we have to handle runs. And I think that, it might have looked like we didn't handle the run, but the whole time we were still winning. We got to understand that that happens during games. But I think we responded well and still were able to pull out the win.
(About missing a triple-double by one rebound:) Yeah, I heard. As great as that would have been I just wanted to win." - South Sudan guard Carlik Jones

"We're just we're trying to go to the Olympics and we had our minds set on the big prize and today we showed a lot of strength against adversity when we let up the lead and we fought back and showed ourselves that we really want to do this." - South Sudan center Weynen Gabriel

"I don't think anything really needs to be said. We played our worst game when it counted the most. The early burst by South Sudan … we had a tremendous fightback. But we spent too much energy in trying to close it and we didn’t have enough to finish it. It's unfortunate that this was the time for us to shoot under 40 percent from the field. We couldn’t make shots, I guess that's the story - Philippines coach Chot Reyes

"A really tough loss but I am really proud of all the guys. The fight we had to bring that game back down to four points just shows the heart that we have. Just really proud of everyone. I just want to encourage everyone to keep their heads up because we still have one more game." - Philippines center AJ Edu

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