SMART GILAS BEATS USA, WINS JONES CUP
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 26 Aug 2012
LA Tenorio.
Smart Gilas Pilipinas anchored by the brilliance of the smallest man on the court, LA Tenorio, showed the heart of a champion to claw back from a 51-59 deficit going into the final quarter to beat the mighty United States 76-75 to win the 34th staging of the Jones Cup in Taipei.
After Jeff Chan was fouled and missed his first free throw with the Philippines up by a point, coach Chot Reyes who has done a masterful job assisted by former national coach Jong Uichico instructed Chan to miss the second free throw with 0.9 seconds remaining and although the Americans went for a desperate basket it didn?t fall and the Filipinos were overjoyed.
Tenorio scored 5 straight points including a big three at the start of the final ten minutes and when Norwood made a crucial triple, Tenorio scored on the run to come to within one 62-63.
A triple by Tenorio and a basket off a spin move sandwiched two baskets by Marcus Douthit before Tenorio scored on a dazzling spin move to give Smart Gilas a 72-70 lead with 2:24 remaining.
A triple by James Jutice edged the US in front 73-72 but Douthit answered and the hero of the Philippine team Tenorio nailed an 18 footer off a tremendous screen by Douthit to regain the lead 76-75.
After the Americans missed Tenorio grabbed the rebound to cap his game-long brilliance and give the cheering, flag-waving Filipinos in the crowd the last laugh after the Chinese-Taipei fans kept rooting for team USA which at the beginning of the game appeared cocky but were rattled when Tenorio got his game going.
The US opened the game with a 6-0 run before Smart Gilas regrouped and answered with a 10-0 run of their own anchored on back-to-back triples by Jeff Chan.
The Americans who were missing some of their outside shots clawed back with a 5-0 run on baskets by the backcourt tandem of 6?4? Wayne Arnold and 6?5? Mychal Kearse to grab a one point lead 13-12 at the end of a low-scoring first quarter.
The US began the second quarter with two baskets in a row to lead 17-12 before Douthit answered with a sky hook to make it 14-17 and then scored off a nice move against 7?0? center Scott Vandermeer to come to with three points at 16-19.
The big center scrambled to score a basket inside before 5?10? guard James Justice scored before Chan answered to make it 18-25 with 4:12 remaining in the first half.
Ranidel Ocampo and Gabe Norwood both missed four free throws while Arnold buried a three, Curtis Marshal scored on a slam dunk, made another basket and sank two free throws by Gary David to give the Americans their biggest lead 34-20 before Chan made a last-second shot beyond the arc to end the first half with the USA ahead 34-23.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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