RP-5 nahaharap sa mabigat na pagsubok

TIANJIN -- Hindi naipa-kita ng Powerade Team Pilipinas ang gusto nilang ipakitang laro bilang preparasyon sa quarterfinals, matapos ang 85-71 panalo sa Kuwait sa final day ng 25th FIBA Asia Championship eliminations sa Tianjin Gym dito kahapon.

"I'm disappointed even if we won the game. I think of all the games we've played here, this is the worst in terms of energy level we put in. I don't think we gave out our best," sabi ni coach Yeng Guiao.

"We're preparing ourselves for our quarters game, and this is not the best way to set up for that," dagdag ni Guiao na umaasang babalik ang kanilang determinasyon at intensidad sa kanilang tangkang semifinal round kontra sa China o Jordan bukas.

Sino man ang kakalabanin nila sa quarterfinals, para kay Guiao kailangan nila ng milagro para manalo.

"Most probably, it's gonna be Jordan. They beat us by 30 points in the Jones Cup and I don't know if we have improved by 30 points by this time. It's gonna be tough but we're not giving up. We'll look for the best way to have the best chance beating them," sabi ni Guiao.

"Considering everything, we're satisfied now that we have improved on our ninth-place finish in Tokushima, but we still want to push ourselves as hard as we can," dagdag ni Guiao.

Kinamada ni Kerby Raymundo ang 10 points sa fourth quarter kung saan kumawala ang mga Pinoy na lumayo ng 19-point lead ngunit nanghina ang Nationals.

"It was really a bad game and we're hoping it won't happen again," ani Raymundo.

Sa likod ng nakakadismayang performance na ito, tumapos ang RP bilang third taglay ang 3-2 mark sa Group E.

Ang reigning champion Iran at Korea ay maglalaban para sa top seeding sa grupo kagabi.

Ang crossover quarterfinal round ay nakatakda bukas, E1 versus F4, E2 versus F3, E3 versus F2 at E4 versus F1.

Nasa quarters din ang Iran, Korea, Philippines at Chinese Taipei sa Group E at China, Jordan, Lebanon at Qatar sa Group F.

Ang Iran, Korea, Chinese Taipei, China, Jordan at Lebanon ay pumasok din sa quarterfinalists sa Tokushima noong 2007. Hindi nakaulit ngayon ang Kazakhstan at Japan na pinalitan ng Philippines at Qatar.

Dahil pumasok sa quarters nahigitan na ng Nationals ang ninth place finish sa Tokushima. Ang maaaring pinakamasamang pagtatapos nila dito ay eight place.

RP 85 -- Baguio 14, Taulava 12, Dillinger 10, Raymundo 10, Yap 9, Santos 9, Aguilar 9, Thoss 6, Norwood 3, Helterbrand 3, Miller 0.

Kuwait 71 -- Alrabah 20, Ashkanani 20, Saeed 12, Fadhel Ah. 6, Alsaeid 4, Alhamidi 4, Alkhabbaz 3, Fadhel Ah. 2, Jamal 0.

Quarterscores: 17-13, 40-29, 60-51, 85-71.