Gilas routs Qatar, eases loss to Iran

GUANGZHOU – Less than 24 hours after suffering a stinging loss to Iran, Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas bounced back and shocked Qatar, 90-68, last night in the 16th Asian Games basketball competition at the Huangpu Gymnasium.

The Nationals sprang back to life after barely surviving the Kuwaitis in a qualifying knockout game Saturday then coming out with another poor performance against the Iranians late Tuesday.

Jayvee Casio, Chris Tiu, Macmac Baracael, Kelly Williams and Asi Taulava got the team to a strong start, and the Nationals sustained the momentum throughout for the morale-boosting victory over the 2006 Asiad silver medalists.

Smart Gilas Phl takes a break today before resuming its campaign Friday, going up against fancied Japan at 9:15 p.m. in the same venue.

In their third game following the addition of Kelly Williams and Sol Mercado, the Nationals finally worked well together and pulled the rug from under their taller and heftier Qataris.

It was a big turnaround from their pathetic showing in a 48-65 loss to Iran at the start of the tournament proper.

Against the Qataris, the Nationals came out smoking and erected a 49-28 lead at halftime on a 7-of-17 three-point shooting.

The Nationals kept the pace to the finish, completing the lopsided victory that sparked hopes for a crack at the knockout stage.

Casio went 4-of-11 from the three-point area and finished with 22 points, five assists and two rebounds with Tiu, Baracael, Taulava, Greg Slaughter and Marcio Lassiter all adding double-digit outputs.

The Nationals outrebounded the Qataris, 45-27, with Williams, Taulava, Tiu, Slaughter and Lassiter accounting for at least five boards each.

The Nationals also beat the Qataris in the other fronts of the game, allowing them to dominate and led by as many as 27.

Late Tuesday night, Smart Gilas failed to shake off back-to-back FIBA Asia champion Iran in a defensive battle and took a harrowing loss in their first game in the main draw.

The Nationals struggled with a 38-percent shooting and committed 25 errors, unable to get their offensive game going in the face of the Iranians’ suffocating defense.

Smart Gilas Phl also put up a good defense but lack of firepower had the Nationals reeling with another loss to a team no Philippine squad has beaten in the last three years.

“They defended very well. We also played well defensively but they were better, limiting us to 48 points. That’s the least we scored in a game since I started coaching the team. That’s our worst game against them,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.

“We had a very bad offensive game and that decided the outcome,” Toroman added.

 Qatar opened its campaign with a 97-48 rout of India also Tuesday night. In the other games, China walloped Mongolia, 91-46; South Korea clobbered Uzbekistan, 103-54; Jordan whipped North Korea, 90-80; and Japan outlasted Chinese Taipei, 63-57.

“We had played the Philippines so many times so we knew them very well. Almost everybody is strong going to the left and so we forced them to play to the right. Our good defense and good three-point shooting won it for us,” said Iran coach Veselin Metic.

Chris Tiu led the Nationals with 14 points .on 4-of-5 three-point shooting but not after committing numerous errors in the first half.

“We’re still trying to develop a chemistry with the addition of three PBA players. Remember that on the eve of our departure going here, they were still playing with their mother teams,” said Tiu. “They’ve yet to fully adjust with the team’s system. But we’re hopeful we’ll get better in the next games.”

Kelly Williams collected 13 rebounds and eight points, Sol Mercado logged seven points and one rebound while Asi Taulava provided a defensive presence and added five points and one rebound.

The Nationals set the pace in the early going before the Iranians zoomed ahead, 17-9, and stayed in control all the way to the finish.

The Iranians proved too much for the Filipinos, though, playing minus 7-foot-2 behemoth Hamed Haddadi and prolific forward Samad Nikkah Bahrami.

Second-string forward Hamed Sohrabnejad converted three of four three-point tries coming off the bench to pace the Iranians with 11 points.

The 6-foot-11 Sohrabnejad had two triples fending off a Smart Gilas rally that saw the Filipinos come to within 13, 42-55, after trailing by as many as 21.

The Iranians had a 17-point cushion going to the final quarter as they held the Filipinos to 10 points each in the first three periods.

“We defended pretty well. Imagine we held them down to 65 points. But they defended much, much better,” said Tiu of the Iranians’ swarming defense that rewarded them 14 steals.