SMART GILAS SUFFERS FIRST DEFEAT IN JONES CUP ROUT BY LEBANON
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 23 Aug 2012
A tired and listless Smart Gilas National Team, feeling the effects of a series of tough come-from-behind wins, suffered its first loss in the Jones Cup when the squad was routed by Lebanon 91-72 in Taipei yesterday.
Lebanon?s crippling zone defense took away the hot hands of shooting stars Jeff Chan and Gary David while former Meralco import Jarrid Famous who also played for San Miguel Beer in the Asian Basketball League outplayed Marcus Douthit in the paint while the Lebanese shot exceptionally well from beyond the arc to reduce the chances of the Philippines to win the Jones Cup with tough games lined up against Iran, Chinese-Taipei?s ?A? team and the United States over the next three days.
The Lebanese took the first quarter 22-15, padded the lead to 11 points at the half, 43-32 before unleashing a crippling defense coupled with torrid outside shooting that gave them a 28 point lead at 74-46 going into the final quarter.
Smart Gilas coach Chot Reyes realized the game was already lost judging by the way the Lebanese were playing and wisely decided to rest Douthit, Chan, David and LA Tenorio in the final ten minutes of the game, knowing that a much-needed win against undefeated Iran which is looking for its fourth straight crown in a 3:00 p.m. showdown tomorrow will put the Philippines back in contention for championship honors.
The Lebanon squad demonstrated their ability to bury triples, hitting a 42.9 percent of their attempts as against the 27.3 percent of the Philippines which had banked on its outside shooting to win their first four games.
With Famous dominating the boards Lebanon also enjoyed a 27-17 rebound advantage in the first half that basically was the story of the game.
Lebanon behind two slam dunks and a runner by Famous which fueled a 10-0 tear at the start of the third quarter opened up a 21 point lead with just under 7 minutes remaining in the quarter before a basket by Gabe Norwood broke the spell.
However, it was short-lived as Jean Abdel Nour scored back to back baskets, the second on a goal-tending violation and another basket by Elie Stephan opened up an almost insurmountable 25 point lead behind a 16-2 run deep into the quarter.
Aware of the Filipinos ability to come back on their three-point shooting Lebanon coach Sarkis told his players ?don?t let them shoot the three, that?s their game. And rebound, rebound, rebound.?
Occasional baskets by Norwood failed to stem the Lebanese juggernaut as Famous and El Katib continued to rip the Smart Gilas defense apart with Katib ending the third quarter with a big three to give Lebanon a whopping 74-46 lead.
The decisive 31-14 blast in the third took the wind out of the Filipinos and the fourth quarter saw Reyes give youngsters Garbo Lanete and Matt Rosser playing time, obviously looking to the future while Enrico Villanueva, the only San Miguel Corporation player in the Smart Gilas lineup scored on a tap-in and then canned one of two free throws after he was fouled before Sol Mercado and Rosser scored a couple of baskets and free throws for the final count of 72-91.
Famous was picked by the AKTV IBC 13 panel of Mico Halili and Ronnie Magsanoc as the ?Best Player of the Game? with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
The game against Iran which is crucial if Smart Gilas is to stay live will be telecast "live" at 3:00 p.m over AKTV IBC 13 today.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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