The 2013 Dubai International Basketball Championships: Gilas Finishes Sixth And Looks Forward to Hong Kong

Smart Gilas played without Marcus Douthit, but they still gave Mouttahed Tripoli of Lebanon a helluva time in the battle for fifth place. With Garvo Lanete and KG Cañaleta waxing hot, the Pinoys almost pulled the rug from under their more seasoned foes for the second time in the past week.

As it turned out, however, the Lebanese managed to hold on to their slim lead and escape with a 77-75 victory. In the other games, Sporting Aramex of Jordan defeated the hometown Al Ahli squad for third place, while Al Riyadi (Sporting Beirut) defeated fellow Lebanese club Sagesse in the Finals to win the title.

The Gilas boys will next leave for the Super Keung Sheung Cup in Hong Kong, which features two club teams from Hong Kong, the national teams of Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, the defending champions – Southern California Fukienese Association, and, naturally, the Hong Kong national squad.

The Gilas boys off to Hong Kong!
(image from the Smart-Gilas 2.0 Facebook page)

It’s a bummer, though, that, despite the Philippine Cup already done, only Gary David of Global Port has been confirmed to reinforce the otherwise cadet-laden team. Cañaleta, Jay-R Reyes, and Ronjay Buenafe will all return to their mother clubs in the PBA, while Jayson Castro and LA Tenorio, both of whom were included in the original roster for the HK tourney, weren’t released for Gilas duty.

My beef here is that this would have been the perfect time to get 10-12 PBA players together with Douthit to start getting a feel for the international game in preparation for the FIBA Asia gig in August. Instead, this tournament will serve as the last big preparation for the cadet pool, who will banner the country in the Southeast Asian Games later this year.

That’s a great objective, but I still feel that not sending PBA players is a really big missed opportunity. Sayang.

The 2013 Dubai International Basketball Championships: Gilas Bows Out with a Whimper

The Gilas boys ended their run in Dubai with a sorry blowout to the top basketball club of Lebanon. It wasn’t that shocking, of course, given how the boys were quite inexperienced compared to the Lebanese and how the three Sagesse imports, Aaron Harper, DeShawn Sims, and Chudney Gray, were playing really well.

Gilas, toting a 1-win 3-loss record from Dubai, is now relegated to the battle for fifth place with the Lebanese team they beat in their first game, Al Moutahed. Afterwards, Gilas moves on to the Super Keung Sheung Cup in Hong Kong, which will be held from January 22-27. Reportedly, Gilas will tap other PBA players to reinforce the squad. This early, 2012-2013 Philippine Cup BPC Jayson Castro has already been included along with Gary David and LA Tenorio.

Coach Chot Reyes was quite apologetic after his boys lost three straight games, but we should all keep in mind that, with the exception of Marcus Douthit, who sprained his ankle late in the Sagesse game, and the PBA reinforcements, this team is comprised of guys from the cadet pool. Temper your expectations for now, folks!

Marcus Douthit wasn't able to finish Gilas's last game
after spraining his ankle in the second half.
(image by Herbert Iponla/Yahoo! Philippines)

The 2013 Dubai International Basketball Championships: Gilas Learns Some Tough Lessons after Back-to-Back Defeats

I have to admit, I feel my heart break ever so slightly every time I see news of the Gilas boys being defeated. I’ve been a close follower and ardent supporter of the Philippine NT ever since I first watched the San Miguel-centric, Norman Black-coached, National Team lose a close one to the hometown Japanese in the bronze medal game of the 1994 Asian Games.

Now, nearly 20 years later, each loss still stings with the same poignancy.

On the flipside, however, is the fact that each setback also brings with it some lessons the team can use to get better. What follows are reposts of well-written articles by my fellow writer, Mr. Jude Roque, from Yahoo! Philippines. These posts detail the painful learnings our Gilas boys learned from their last two losses in the 2013 Dubai International Basketball tourney.

Kevin Alas drives to the hole against a superior
Jordanian squad.
(image by Herbert Iponla/Yahoo!)

The 2013 Dubai International Basketball Championships: Gilas Opens with a Win

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.

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.