GARY DAVID?S ENDGAME HEROICS HELPS SMART GILAS BEAT KOREA
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 21 Aug 2012
Gary David.
The endgame heroics of 34 year old shooting star Gary David enabled the Smart Gilas Philippine National Team to score a morale-boosting 82-79 victory over South Korea?s champion squad reinforced by two towering imports.
David who was named ?Best Player of the Game? by the AKTV IBC 13 TV panel of Ronnie Magsanoc and Richard del Rosario scored on a tough basket and followed through with a pull-up jumper to break a 79-79 deadlock in the dying seconds of the game before Gabe Norwood sank one of two free throws and Marcus Douthit foiled the last Korean play to give the Filipinos their third straight victory.
Two triples by Jeff Chan and two turnaround jumpers by Douthit got Smart Gilas off to a blazing start to lead the Koreans 16-8 after Ranidel De Ocanpo scored the first four points for the Philippines.
A corner jumper by Norwood enabled Smart Gilas to take the first quarter 24-17 .
A 9-0 run by the Philippines courtesy of triples from Larry F onacier and Chan and a fastbreak basket by Sol Mercado opened up a ten point lead 33-23 lead before Fonacier scored off a pass from Chan to pad the lead to 12 after which a steal by Douthit saw Fonacier streak ahead to make it 37-23 with 5:30 remaining .
The Koreans anchored by import Juan Patillo came roaring back with the Philippine woes compounded by two unsportsmanlike fouls committed by De Ocampo and Enrico Villanueva enabling Korea to end the half ahead by 2 points, 42-40.
Turnovers began to take their toll on the Smart Gilas squad in the third quarter while torrid outside shooting by the Koreans for which they are well known with three straight triples pushing them ahead 61-49 with import Garrett Stutz getting the better of Douthit down low.
A triple from the corner by Chan sparked a 7-0 run by Smart Gilas after which a Norwood triple and two free throws cut the Koreans lead to 65-51 with 1:35 remaining but back to back baskets by Potillo opened up a 71-63 lead but a basket by Sonny Thoss and a driving layup by Mercado who missed on the free throw helped put Smart Gilas within striking distance at 71-65.
A big three point shot by David and a drive by the late blooming national player cut the Koreans lead to one at 71-70 before Mercado scored on a fastbreak and a drive to the hoop to restore the lead to the Philippines 76-75 with time down to 5:30.
With the score tied at 77-77 on a Douthit free throw with 1:49 left but Mercado missed two free throws before David?s endgame heroics and some resolute defense sealed the nerve-wracking win for Smart Gilas who will face Japan on Wednesday.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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