This is a
repost of the well-written article by my fellow writer, Sir Jude Roque, fromYahoo! Philippines:
“Inspired by
the recent announcement of FIBA Asia that this year’s Asian Championship will
be held in Manila, the Smart Gilas Pilipinas national men’s team got off to a
rousing start here in the 24th Dubai International Basketball Championship by
nipping Al Mouttahed Tripoli of Lebanon, 79-77, Friday at the Al-Ahli Club gym,
to the delight of about two thousand Filipino fans.
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| Not surprisingly, Marcus Douthit led the Pinoys anew in the first game of the 2013 Dubai tourney. (image by Herbert Iponla/Yahoo!) |
The
nationals shook off a slow start to thwart the No. 3 team in the tough Lebanese
league that boasts of three American imports - Marc Salyers, Eric Chatfield and
Larry Cox. Salyers is a 6’9” forward who has played all over Europe, while
Chatfield is a hotshot from the University of New Mexico. Cox is a 6’10”
behemoth who leads the Lebanese league in blocks with 3.9 per game.
The Lebanese
started the game on fire, leading by as many as 15 points, at 18-3, on two
triples by Salyers. Mouttahed was ahead, 22-10, after the first period, ut the
gritty young Philippine squad unloaded five treys in the second quarter, two of
which came from Meralco Bolts ace gunner Ronjay Buenafe, to take the half,
41-40.
Naturalized
import Marcus Douthit took control in the third canto as he scattered ten
markers to keep Gilas still on top, 59-58, going into the payoff period.
In the
fourth quarter, it was a Garvo Lanete and Kevin Alas show as the former NCAA
rivals collaborated with a run-and-gun attack to counter the clear size
advantage of Mouttahed. Alas, the former Letran standout, fed ex-San Beda star
Lanete with a couple of excellent assists. Lanete connected on a triple and two
floaters in a three-minute span.
Alas also
fed Greg Slaughter with an alley hoop pass that the former completed with a
slam, and delivered a crucial three-ball with just under four minutes left. But
in the end, it was excellent team defense that sealed the victory for this
Philippine squad that was formed in less than two months before the tournament,
capped by a Lanete steal in the dying seconds of the game.
Douthit led
Gilas with 20 points and 8 boards, while Lanete and Buenafe added 15 and 10
markers respectively. Alas also had a superb game with 9 points, 5 assists and 4
steals.
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| The young guns of Smart-Gilas in Dubai! (image by Herbert Iponla/Yahoo!) |
‘In the
Jones Cup, all of our wins came from behind. Never, never give-up. But I
thought the key in the endgame was our ability to make some stops,’ said head
coach Chot Reyes.
Gilas and
Mouttahed engaged in a shooting contest, but the Filipinos prevailed with 11
out of 25 triples as opposed to their opponents’ 8-of-31. The bigger Lebanese, however,
won the battle of the boards, 35-29, including 17 offensive rebounds. Gilas had
more assists, 15-9.
Gilas faces
home team Al-Ahli Club, UAE’s top professional team, later today.
Smart Gilas
and Mouttahed are joined in Group B by Al-Ahli Club and Jordan’s Al Riyadi
Sporting Aramex Club. In Group A are Sagesse and Al-Riyadi, both from Beirut,
Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates national team. A team from Kazakhstan was
supposed to be part of Group A, but backed-out at the last minute.
Two years
ago, the first batch of Gilas under Serbian coach Rajko Toroman placed second
behind Egypt’s El Ettehad Club in this tournament. The only remaining member of
that batch is Douthit. Slaughter was part of the 2010 Gilas squad that placed
third behind Mahram of Iran and Al-Riyadi of Lebanon.
The
Philippine team will easily become the most popular squad here as Dubai has
over 800,000 Filipino overseas workers. Pinoys make up the biggest crowd in this
annual tournament as they look forward to seeing the nationals in action.
The other
members of the squad are KG Canaleta of Air 21, JayR Reyes of Meralco, RR
Garcia, Ronald Pascual, Jake Pascual, and Matthew Ganuelas of NLEX, and Fil-Am
recruits Justin Melton and Isaac Holstein. Coach Chot is assisted by former
national coach Jong Uichico.”
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