LEE’S ENDGAME HEROICS HAND GILAS ASIA CUP BEST FINISH
Paul Lee turned defeat into victory as the Rain or Shine stalwart worked on a brilliant play in the dying seconds and, with three charities with no time left, lifted Gilas Pilipinas past China, 80-79, in a duel for third place in the fifth FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, China Saturday night.
With the endgame heroic of Lee, Gilas Pilipinas recorded its best finish in this tourney, following similar fourth-place windup in 2010 in Beirut and 2012 in Tokyo.
Marcus Douthit and LA Tenorio had their hand in Gilas’ winning play that broke the hearts of China and the cheering home crowd at the Wuhan Sports Centre.
It was the very venue of the Chinese’ last triumph in Asian caging – the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship. They have gone losing since then, twice to the Philippines in the FIBA Asia Cup.
They had looked headed for a win but then Wang Zhelin missed what could have been the insurance buckets from the stripe with five seconds to go.
Douthit grabbed the important defensive rebound then Tenorio issued the outlet pass, putting on Lee’s hands the fate of the team
Lee faked off two defenders, fished a crucial foul and, before the jeering Chinese fans, calmly nailed the charities that sent the Filipinos to the podium finish.
The Chinese took control most of the way but the Filipinos refused to lose, fighting gallantly all the way through.
Starting in place of Tenorio, Lee went 2-of-5 from the field and 4-of-5 from the stripe and wound up with nine points, two assists and two steals against one turnover.
Ranidel de Ocampo topscored with 18 points spiked by a perfect 3-of-3 clip from beyond the arc.
Douthit outsmarted the young Chinese giants, coming through with 22 rebounds and 10 points while Tenorio, Beau Belga and Japeth Aguilar all put in double-digit outputs in solid relief jobs.
Belga rattled in 10 straight points to personally stop an early Chinese breakaway, forging a tie at 33-all.
The two teams then fought through a battle of runs with Chinese enjoying an 11-point spread in once instance.
After the Filipinos rallied to within two, 60-62, at the end of the third, the Chinese came through with one final big binge to open an eight-point spread at 72-64.
But Gilas just won’t fade away.
The scores:
Philippines 80 – De Ocampo 18, Aguilar 14, Tenorio 12, Douthit 10, Belga 10, Lee 9, Lanete 3, Washington 2, Dillinger 2, Alas 0, David 0.
China 79 – Makan 23, Gao 11, Tao 11, Zhou 10, Wang 9, Gu 7, Zhang 6, He 2, Dong 0, Zhao 0, Cao 0.
Quarterscores: 15-24, 38-44, 60-62, 80-79
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