Days 6 of the 2012 Jones Cup

Ghassan Sarkis will lead the coaching staff of the Lebanese
as they try to return to their dominant standing in Asia.
(image from Sports-Leb.com)

The comeback kids of the Jones Cup might have tried to experiment if they could rally from a 20-point fourth quarter deficit.

Didn’t happen.

Former Youth Team standout Rodrigue Akl orchestrated the Lebanese team’s offense with aplomb, dishing out 10 assists as the WABA powerhouse just ran roughshod over a visibly tired Filipino five. Former Meralco Bolts and San Miguel Beermen import Jarrid Famous, now a naturalized Lebanese (apparently, Sam Hoskin wasn’t good enough), outplayed Marcus Douthit down low with 26 points and 11 rebounds to lead Coach Ghassan Sarkis’s charge. Sarkis was the architect of Lebanon’s rise to prominence in Asian basketball back in the early part of the 2000s, and it seems like they’re trying to see if he can wield the same old magic again.

Douthit finished with just 11 points and 6 boards in 21 minutes of action. Only two other PInoys finished in twin digits, with Gabe Norwood and Sol Mercado finishing with 15 and 11 markers respectively.

Elie Stephan hit 7 threes to typify Lebanon’s dominance in this game. He finished with 28 points, while Jean Abel Nour backstopped Famous down low with 14 points and 9 rebounds of his own.

The Lebanese improve to 2-4, while Gilas, now at 4-1, sinks to second place behind idle Iran (5-0). Today’s game against the Iranians will probably determine who has an inside track to win first place, since the final standings will determine the championship placing.

Here’s the recap from Mikkel Bolante of InterAKTV.com:

The SMART-Gilas Pilipinas national team finally ran out of luck, falling to the Jarrid Famous-led Lebanon team, 91-72, in the 34th William Jones Cup in Taiwan.

The loss was the first for the Filipinos in the tournament, dropping their record down to 4-1. The loss is crucial as the championship is decided by win-loss records at the end of the single round-robin tilt. Iran leads the field with a 4-0 record.

Lebanon got the jump on the Philippines early, finishing the first quarter ahead, 22-15. They ended the first half leading by 11 points.

But there was no comeback in the works for the Filipinos this time, after Lebanon outscored SMART-Gilas, 31-14, in a big third quarter that gave them a whopping 74-46 lead entering the last 10 minutes.

Famous, the former Meralco Bolts import, opened the fourth quarter by scoring his 24th point of the game, giving Lebanon a 30-point advantage, 78-48.

Sol Mercado answered with a bucket off a strong drive and Matt Rosser was given two points off a goaltending violation as the Philippines cut the deficit down to 26, 78-52, with 7:20 remaining.

But the Lebanese responded with a three-pointer to push the lead back up to 81-52.

The Filipinos hit several free throws in the last two minutes that brought the lead down to 19, 91-72, with the game safely in hand for Lebanon.

Here are the screencaps of the box scored from Day 6 courtesy of Chris Wang from Taiwan Hoops (I hope you can understand Chinese):

Day 6 Box Scores: