SMART GILAS SHOWS ITS FIGHTING HEART TO BEAT JAPAN IN THE JONES CUP
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 23 Aug 2012
Marcus Douthit.
The Smart Gilas Philippine National Team showed its fighting heart to come back from a 13 point deficit early in the fourth quarter to overcome a tough, young, sweet-shooting Japanese squad to join Iran at the top of the standings in the Jones Cup with a 4-0 slate.
A suffocating defense in the fourth quarter limited the Japanese to a mere 13 points in the payoff period and a measly 5 points in the last six minutes to seal the victory behind a superb all-around game by Marcus Douthit who kept Smart Gilas in the game when others may have wilted or given up.
Douthit finished with a game high 26 points, 13 rebounds, 2 blocks and a couple of steals to ensure the victory after a maze of turnovers, poor transition defense and outside shooting that turned sour especially in the second and third quarter but clicked when coach Chot Reyes needed his players to deliver in the crucial moments of an intriguing game.
With flag-waving Filipinos in the crowd cheering then on, two triples by LA Tenorio and one by Mac Baracael plus back-to-back baskets by Douthit helped Smart Gilas take the first quarter 26-23.
Two errors by Enrico Villanueva and a couple of more turnovers enabled the Japanese behind big man Sakurai who had 11 points behind a 24-10 spread to give Japan a 47-36 lead at the half.
Some tacky calls at the start of the third quarter began to frustrate the Philippine players and when Tenorio was called for an unsportsmanlike foul against point guard Watanabe it compounded the misery of Smart Gilas and put the Filipinos in penalty with 5:50 remaining in the third.
A slam off a rebound by Douthit and a triple by Gabe Norwood were undone by some poor defense and a series of big baskets by Japan who posted their biggest lead of 13 points, 71-57 going into the final ten minutes.
Douthit was far from ready to give up and quietly inspired his teammates beginning the final period with a nifty steal and a slam dunk and after Sakurai scored on another turnover the naturalized American was fouled and converted both free throws to make it 62-73 with 8:27 to play.
Sakurai was called with a intentional foul on Tenorio who made both free throws before Norwood scored on a classic baseline jam to cut Japan?s lead to 7 at 66-73 with just under eight minutes remaining.
Watanabe increased Japan?s lead to 9 at 70-79 with just over five minutes remaining but triples by Gary David Jeff Chan who had struggled early on cut the Japanese lead to one, 79-78 with 4:10 to play.
Sakurai eased the pressure somewhat with a basket that pushed Japan in front 81-78 before some remarkable defense by Smart Gilas forced the 24 second shot clock to run out but David and Chan had open looks but missed and when Douthit sank one of two free throws Smart Gilas was down by a basket 79-81 with 2:43 remaining.
Once again the Smart Gilas defense stepped up and Japan was forced into a travelling violation before Norwood who has had an excellent tournament buried a crucial three-point shot to edge the Philippines in front 82-81 with 2:05 to play to finish with 11 points.
Chan was called for a foul on what looked like a clean steal before a no-look back pass by Chan to Douthit in the lane enabled the Philippines to move ahead 84-81 time down to 1:36.
Takeuchi who was harassed committed a dribbling violation with 8 second left on Japan?s shot clock and 36 seconds on the game clock before Douthit with a spin move to the basket was fouled and made no mistake with his two free throws to push Smart Gilas to a five point lead 86-81.
But Japan was far from finished as shooting star Furukawa who had seven triples in the game against Jordan the previous day nailed a long three with 20.6 seconds remaining to make it 86-84.
Chan was fouled in the last Smart Gilas offensive and the MVP of the recent PBA Finals coolly sank both free throws to clinch the 88-84 victory.
The game was telecast by AKTV IBC 13 later than the announced time of 5:00 p.m due to a change made by the Jones Cup organizers in Taipei.
The game against Lebanon on Thursday will be telecast on a delayed basis at 8:00 p.m.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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