GILAS ADVANCES TO FINAL 4
Gilas Pilipinas buckled down to work in the middle quarters and built enough lead to overcome a faltering windup as the Filipinos topped the Indian side, 70-66, to advance to the FIBA Asia Cup Final Four at the Wuhan Sports Centre in Wuhan, China Thursday night.
Ranidel de Ocampo, Paul Lee and Marcus Douthit provided the spunk and firepower in their decisive charge in the second and third quarters that sent the Filipinos to a third straight semis stint in this tourney formerly known as the Stankovic Cup.
The Nationals set the pace most of the way but the Indians made it close in the end on a 14-0 closing run.
Gilas Pilipinas went scoreless in the last five minutes of the game. Nonetheless, the Nationals extended their supremacy over the Indians with the scrambling four-point win.
The Indians, handled by former NBA D-League coach Scott Flemming, took the initiative in the first six minutes of play before the Nationals said enough is enough.
Applying the press and starting to knock down outside shots, the Nationals grabbed the upperhand, 20-17, at the end of the opening quarter, and slowly pulled away for the victory that brought them to the semifinals against reigning champion Iran.
Veteran center Hamed Hadadi came through with 14 points and 10 rebounds while young forward Mohammad Jamshidi piled up 26 points as the Iranians – also the FIBA Asia Championship titleholders – crushed the Jordan side, 75-60.
Chinese Taipei, riding the crest of a fourth-place finish behind Iran, the Philippines and Korea in the last Asian meet at the MOA Arena in Manila, also advanced to the semis here with a 76-62 win over Japan.
Host China was the overwhelming favorite versus Singapore in their quarters match-up still being played at posting time.
De Ocampo and Jay Washington went firing coming off the bench as Gilas seized control in the second quarter, sitting on a 45-33 cushion at the half.
With their conversions from the outside, De Ocampo and Washington opened up the paint for Marcus Douthit who came up with 10 points and eight rebounds in the first two quarters. (SB)
The scores:
The Philippines 70 – Lee 15, Douthit 14, De Ocampo 13, Washington 7, David 6, Alas 5, Dillinger 4, Aguilar 2, Tenorio 2, Fajardo 2, Belga 0, Lanete 0.
India 66 – A. Singh 20, P. Singh 10, Bhrivuganshi 10, J. Singh 9, A. Singh 8, Mishra 6, Y. Singh 2, Pethani 1.
Quarterscores: 20-17, 45-33, 60-47, 70-66.
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