Patrick Gardner goes for 13 and 8 in Egypt loss to Montenegro

Patrick Gardner scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds as he played all but five minutes of Egypt’s 89-74 loss to Montenegro and their All-Star center, the Bulls Nikola Vucevic, in Manila Sunday evening local time.

Wins by Montenegro and Lithuania on Sunday clinched second round spots, leaving Egypt with no chance of advancing. They will still play Mexico on Tuesday. After that, their World Cup is over.

Gardner, the 6’11” Nets training camp invite, did not have a good shooting game, hitting only 3-of-12 overall and 2-of-6 from downtown. Egypt’s head coach, Roy Rana, utilized the Marist product as a power forward, but made him a bigger part of the offense than he had been in Egypt’s first game vs. Lithuania. Gardner had only two points and two rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench in that game. He started and played 35 in this one.

Gardner also had a steal credited to him. For Montenegro, Vucevic finished with 16 points and seven boards to lead his team. Ehab Amin finished with a team-high 26 points for Egypt.

The loss ended whatever chance Egypt had and not just in advancing to the second round. Teams that survive group play also get an automatic invitation to the Paris Olympics in 2024. Egypt, in fact, hasn’t won a FIBA World Cup game since 1994. Despite that, Egypt will continue to play after Tuesday’s final group game. Each team is guaranteed eight games which are used by FIBA to rank the world’s best national teams.

Although FIBA provided a highlight package, Gardner, (No. 15) barely featured in it. No word on whether Sean Marks or Team USA’s Mikal Bridges or Cam Johnson were on hand for the game at the Mall of Asia Arena.

• Box Score: Montenegro 89, Egypt 74 - FIBA
• Game Highlights: Montenegro 89, Egypt 74 (Video) - FIBA
• FIBA: Montenegro topples Egypt, moves to 2-0 in Group D - Rom Anzures - ABS-CBN News
• FIBA World Cup: Montenegro advances to next round with rout of Egypt - Jonas Terrado - Philippine Daily Inquirer
• Roy Rana is doing more than coaching at the World Cup, he’s building a future for Egyptian basketball - Doug Smith - Toronto Star