The visiting Kazakhstan Steppe Wolves stunned the home team Gilas Pilipinas, 92-88.

Alexandr Zhigulin hot shooting from inside and outside gave coach Yeng Guiao and the rest of the team Pilipinas a headache.

Zhigulin finished the game with 30 points where 18 of those came from the three-point area. He was 6-of-12 from the rainbow territory and was 62.5 percent overall shooting from the field.

The 24-years-old Zhigulin was a typical stretch big-men in the NBA which makes the likes of June Mar Fajardo ability to guard in the paint obsolete.

He was also very agile and was able to beat Greg Slaughter easily in sprinting inside the basketball court. That might be the reason why “GregZilla” only logged 4:55 minutes of playing time.

Stanley Pringle tried to keep the pace of the Gilas squad as he dropped 29 points but wasn’t enought to oust the visiting team.

One of the bright perhaps that “the Kraken” has finally awaken. June Mar Fajardo chipped in his double-double performance with 14 and rebounds.

The San Miguel Beermen center was able to regain his old moves prior to his shin injury that sidelined him most of the 2018 Governors’ Cup. He need that against their next schedule against team Iran.

With the loss, team Philippines slipped in the top three of Group F of the 2019 FIBA Asian World Cup Qualifiers as team Japan overtook their spot. Earlier today, the Japanese squad has beaten team Qatar.

As mentioned, the next game of Gilas Pilipinas will be on December 3, Monday against team Iran.

Philippines vs Kazakhstan Box Score

Quarters: 18-17 | 21-23 | 23-25 | 26-27

Steppe Wolves (92): Bazhin 9, Bykov 20, Murzagaliyev 11, Yergali 10, Zhigulin 30, Kuanov 8, Marchuk 4

Gilas Pilipinas (88): Fajardo 14, Lassiter 13, Norwood 7, Pringle 29, Tenorio 8, Aguilar 4, Erram 2, Thompson 6, Wright 5