RP cagers bow out of gold medal race

BUSAN, South Korea — Seven seconds to victory. Seven seconds to ignominy.

Defeat has never been this painful. Seven ticks away from their biggest triumph and the Nationals lost their grip on it and South Korea escaped, 69-68, dealing the Philippines a shocking loss that would be long remembered.

They had seized control in the last 51 seconds of the nerve-wracking contest and silenced a jampacked crowd of 5,000. And were 23 heartbeat seconds away to a place in the finals and two free throws away from winning a game that would certainly be enshrined among the best back home.

They were very much in control over a beleaguered Korean side but in the pulsating endgame, nobody bothered to use their remaining two team fouls. Nobody in the bench used their two timeouts.

Still, the Nationals raced down court on Korea’s final offensive and they broke it up, but as destiny would have it, the host controlled possession and stuck a fatal knife into the heart of the Filipinos at the buzzer.

Now nothing else matters. Not even a bronze today probably against Kazakhstan which was playing China at presstime.

Pointguard Olsen Racela, who loved to thrive on heart-stopping finishes, threw away what could have been the game-winner when – moments after pushing the Philippines ahead at 68-66 on a three-pointer off an Asi Taulava screen in the last 51 seconds – he missed two free throws off a foul by Bang Sung Yoon.

Until those free throws, the Nationals had sensed a great upset in the works and were forming a human chain at the bench with their arms locked.

The Koreans controlled the rebound and set up one final play as time ticked away. But the dribbling Bang slipped trying to penetrate the RP defense in the last seven seconds, and Kim Joo Sung controlled the loose ball and flung it to Lee Sang Min atop the key. Lee shook away Taulava and Racela out of position, tip-toed beyond the line and launched a three-pointer as time expired.

The shock long lingered on the court and in the dugout.

Tears were shed. Feet shuffled in the hallway. Grown men, battle tested in many a cage war, were red-eyed and silent.

It was a loss worse than death.

"I take the blame for the loss, I could have called a timeout. I presumed the players knew there were two fouls to give but at the rate the game was going sometimes you tend to forget in that crucial time. We have two timeouts left and they didn’t have any and I felt they may run something if I call a timeout," said national coach Jong Uichico.

Uichico said he was proud of his men. "To beat Korea in Korea is a tough thing to do and I am proud of what we did tonight even if we lost because we showed it can be done, beating Korea, although the bottomline is we lost the game," he said.

In the end, the Filipinos, who played superb basketball on both sides of the court despite being jeered no end by the crowd and drawing a stream of bad calls and non-calls, did themselves in with eight free throw misses out of 16 attempts, including four crucial ones in the last period.

The first two by the 6-foot-9 Taulava, who held his own against the 6-foot-10 Seo Jang Hoon, with 123 seconds left in the contest and the count at 63-62 for Korea.

Bang fired a three-pointer on the return play igniting the crowd, 66-62 but Dondon Hontiveros who had helped neutralized Moon Kyung Eun, countered with a trey on the side, 65-66, with time down to one minute and 34 seconds.

The Koreans began to falter as Lee missed on an off-balanced drive, and then Racela fired the three-pointer that gave the Philippines the lead, 68-66, and the RP bench was in uproar.

After Seo missed on a jumper, Racela controlled the rebound and was fouled racing down the court with 23 seconds left for the two free throws that bounced off the rim.

"You dream of moments like this, with the game on the line. Sayang. We did our best but we fell short," said Racela.

The Nationals played their game plan to the letter, never losing their focus, keeping a halfcourt offense throughout and eclipsing Moon who had 18 points but never a factor down the stretch.

It was also a bitter defeat for Kenneth Duremdes, the veteran of three Asiads, who recalled his old offensive rhythm to fire 12 points, the same output of Noy Castillo who banged in four of five three-pointers. Racela had 14 points on three of five from beyond the arc and two of four two-point field goals.

The Filipinos had 41.7 percent shooting, making 25 of 60 attempts from the floor against the Koreans’ 43.1 percent clip (25 of 58), and outrebounded their rivals, 34-32, with 12 offensive recoveries.

"We didn’t realize how strong and good the Filipinos are. We were preparing for the game against China and didn’t realize we had to deal with a strong and tough RP team," Korean coach Kim Jin through interpreter.

The scores:

Korea 69 – Moon K.E. 18, Lee M.S., Seo J.H. 14, Kim J.S. 6, Hyun J.Y. 5, Choo S.G. 4, Bang S.Y. 4, Kim S.H. 3, Chun H.C. 0.

RP – Racela 14, Duremdes 12, Castillo 12, Hontiveros 8, Taulava 8, Hatfield 4, Cariaso 3, Espino 3, Menk 2, Ildefonso 2, Seigle 0.