RP quintet good for 15th or 16th in ABC tournament

HARBIN, China — The Philippines braced for its worst-ever finish in the Asian Basketball Confederation when it bowed to Syria, 77-95, Sunday in the 22nd ABC at the Heilongjan gym here.

The loss put the Filipinos in an embarrassing position where they will try to salvage a 15th-place finish among 16 nations seeing action in this event serving as the qualifier for the Olympics in Athens, Greece next year.

They will meet the last placer in Group III (either Uzbekistan or Malaysia) in the battle for 15th place starting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Cebuana Lhuillier-backed RP team actually held its own against the taller Syrians in the first two quarters and kept the score close, 42-47, at halftime.

But the Syrians, who finished fourth in the previous staging of the event in Shanghai, China in 2001, began asserting themselves in the third period where they outscored the Filipinos, 31-12, to pull away, 78-54.

The Filipinos desperately tried to come back in the fourth but failed as the Syrians simply coasted to the victory.

Mohamad Abo Sada topscored for Syria with a game-high 28 points, including four triples.

Mohamed Alamam added 24 points and 14 rebounds, while Michel Madanli contributed 18 points, including 13 in the third quarter.

Chris Dennis Madrid tossed in 19 points for the Filipinos, including three of the team’s seven three pointers.

Bernzon Franco had 12 points on 4-of-17 field goal shooting while Emerson Oreta and Richard Melencio added nine points apiece for the RP team, whose previous worst finish was 12th in the 1995 edition of the event in Seoul, South Korea.

The scores:

Syria 95 — Mohamad Abo Sada 28, Mohamed Alamam 24, Madanli 18, Alhakam 8, Kedwan 6, Mahdsharif 4, Rober 3, Abdulhamid 1, Qade 0, Shaban 0.

RP-Cebuana Lhuillier 77 — Madrid 19, Franco 12, Melencio 9, Oreta 9, Pingris 7, Cruz 7, Calimag 4, Omolon 4, De Guzman 4, Wilson 2.

Quarterscores: 23-27; 47-42; 78-54; 95-77