GILAS PILIPINAS STRUGGLES IN FIRST WIN OVER SAUDI ARABIA
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 02 Aug 2013
The first assignment supposedly was a lighter opponent for Gilas Pilipinas but the national men's basketball team struggled to win over Saudi Arabia, 78-66, in the opening day of the FIBA Asia Championship at the SM Mall of Asia Arena yesterday.
The sweet shooting Saudis led 16-14 in the first quarter which silenced the predominantly home crowd. But Team Pilipinas bounced back to lead by seven at the end of the first half, 35-28.
The lead widened to 16 points, 66-50, in the fourth quarter. And it looked like Gilas was heading to a massacre. But the booming triples of the Arabian players cut the lead to seven, 66-59. Amidst fouls, turnovers and errors, Team Pilipinas coasted to a not-so-easy-victory over the unpredictable Saudis.
?I think the Saudis showed with their game tonight that they deserve to be in this tournament,? coach Chot Reyes was quoted by interAKTV. ?It was pretty difficult for us coming in blind, not knowing much about how the Saudis played.?
Only five players played over 20 minutes for the Philippines, with Larry Fonacier having the longest at 23 minutes. Reyes wanted to conserve the energy of his players in today's game against dangerous Jordan.
Feeling pressured to deliver before the fans, Gilas shot just 31 percent in the three point area and committed high 14 turnovers, at the same time committing 30 fouls and reaching the penalty in all four quarters.
LA Tenorio and Fonacier topscored for Gilas with 12 points each. Marcus Douthit had 10 points and 11rebounds. Marc Pingris contributed eight points and nine rebounds.
Aymam Almuwallad had 18 points while Mohammed Almarwani added 12 points and 12 rebounds for Saudi Arabia.
Gilas shooter Gary David struggled in the game against the Saudis shooting just 2-of-11 from the field and missed all six of his three-point attempts. Reyes hoped that David will find his range in the game versus Jordan today.
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