Aspirants bow to Qatar in Jones Cup

The country’s "aspirants" pool battled back from 16 points down in the third quarter and trailed by only three with a minute left but Joseph Yeo missed a triple as Qatar eked out a 68-63 decision in the eight-team Jones Cup basketball tournament at the Taipei Physical Education College Gymnasium in Taiwan yesterday.

National coach Chot Reyes said he couldn’t ask anything more from his undermanned squad that was formed barely two weeks before leaving for Taipei last Friday.

"If there’s such a thing as a good loss, this was it," said Reyes. "Joseph and Denok (Miranda) got us back in the game. We were down by three and ran a play with less than a minute to go but just couldn’t convert. We stole the ball back but again, couldn’t score. We extended perhaps the tournament’s second best team to the limit. Our press was almost perfect. Ranidel (de Ocampo) and KG (Canaleta) did a good job in our press because they’re both long, pesky and quick."

Qatar coach Joseph Steibing said, ’the Philippines never gave up " they played us hard and tough and probably deserved to win the game more than us."

L. A. Tenorio got the team off to a flying start with a daredevil drive and a triple. Qatar was up by two, 20-18, at the end of the first period but slowly pulled away behind its deep bench.

"Constantly scratching and clawing, compensating for our poor perimeter shooting with some great defense, we still trailed by 12 with six minutes left then KG and Joseph hit back-to-back triples to get us to within six," related Reyes. "It was nip and tuck from there until the end."

Reyes said he approached the game with the idea of playing hard but not showing all his cards because "our feeling is, if we get lucky to make it to the Final Four, we’ll play Qatar again."

Reyes brought a team of 11 players, including amateur stars Yeo, Abby Santos, Arwind Santos and Tenorio, to Taipei and called the mission "an investment for the future." Mike Cortez, Sonny Thoss and Dondon Hontiveros, who couldn’t leave last Friday because of previous commitments, are flying in tomorrow to reinforce the aspirants.

Qatar finished third in the last FIBA (Federation de Basketball Internationale)-Asia qualifiers and will represent the region with China and Lebanon in the World Championships in Japan on Aug. 19-Sept. 3. Qatar will host the Asian Games late this year.Reyes described Qatar as a legitimate title contender in the tournament.

’They’ve matured," he said. ’They’re really a team now. They’re tall, big, athletic and quick and they’ve got good shooters. Their average height is 6-5."

Qatar’s star player Yaseem Ismail was suited up but didn’t play. Canadian transplant Ali Saad Abdulrahman, a 6-2 point guard, scored 18 points and 6-6 forward Erfan Ali Saeed chipped in 13 for Qatar.

Reyes said the aspirants whittled down the deficit behind a stifling press and triples from Yeo and Canaleta. What doused the aspirants? chances to overhaul Qatar’s lead was poor shooting. The national team hit only 8-of-16 from the line and shot 38 percent from the floor, compared to Qatar’s 47 percent. Qatar also outrebounded the aspirants, 49-29.

Eight men’s teams are playing in a single-round robin preliminary phase. The top four placers then face off in the semifinals with No. 1 against No. 4 and No. 2 against No. 3. The winners then dispute the championship in the finals on July 16.

The teams playing in the Jones Cup are the Philippines, Qatar, US, Japan, Korea, Chinese-Taipei, Kazakhstan and Australia.