The Philippines forced an overtime session, but eventually faltered to Croatia, 81-78, in the opening game of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Seville, Spain. (Watch the match highlights below)

With Gilas down by a basket late in the fourth, Jayson Castro connected on a floater with 39 seconds left to knot the ballgame at 71-all.

Then, with Croatia failing to score on their end, Jeff Chan had one last crack at the basket, but Jeff Chan left his long two-pointer clanking on the rim.

In the extra session, the Croats extended their lead to four, 79-75, but Andray Blatche managed to throw up a hail mary trey to cut the lead to just one, 79-78, with 7.6 left on the clock.

But the 16th-ranked Eastern European squad managed to make insurance free throws, courtesy of Damien Rudez, to secure the victory.

Andray Blatche led the way in his first official match with Gilas, scoring 28 points on 10-for-24 shooting with 12 rebounds. Jeff Chan added 17, while Marc Pingris contributed 10.

Bojan Bogdanovic poured 26 points, while Krunoslav Simon added 12 points and seven boards for Croatia.