Rested Gilas resumes group bid vs Iraq five

MANILA, Philippines - Smart Gilas hopes to come out fresh from a one-day rest as it resumes its hunt for a quarterfinal berth against Duhok of Iraq tonight in the 22nd FIBA-Asia Champions Cup at the Philsports Arena.

The Nationals struggled in the early going in their first two outings but regrouped in time to blast Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia, 101-69, last Saturday and the KL Dragons of Malaysia, 95-64, last Sunday for a 2-0 mark in Group A.

Applied Science U matched that big Gilas start with a 79-69 victory over Al Ittihad yesterday.

Osama Daghles, who played for the Jordanian 2010 World Championship team, scored five of his 14 points in the fourth quarter to power ASU past Al Ittihad for a share of the Group A lead.

“Our main goal is to win our game against Iraq tomorrow (today) and another one against Jordan the next day because our target is to top our group,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman, who scouted yesterday’s Al Ittihad-ASU duel along with assistants Oliver Bunyi, Djalma Arnedo and Jude Roque.

Smart Gilas winds up its elims campaign against ASU at 6 p.m. tomorrow.

The Serbian coach, however, said the Filipinos must play aggressively and use its quickness from start to finish, adding; “We can’t afford to play that way in our next games because our opponents are getting tougher each game.”

Smart Gilas and Duhok, which downed the KL Dragons of Malaysia, 88-76, for its historic win in the annual event, will meet only for the second time in two years with the former edging the latter, 76-74, in last year’s edition in Doha, Qatar, thanks to the buzzer-beating lay-up of former import Milan Vucicevic of Serbia.

Toroman, however, said the current roster, now led by naturalized cager Marcus Douthit and pros Asi Taulava of Meralco and Dondon Hontiveros of Air21, is an entirely different team from last year’s squad.

The scores:

First Game

ASU of Jordan 79 – Alawadi 26, Daghles 14, Forehan Kelly 11, Abuqoura 11, Abbas 7, Watkins 7, Islam 2, Mohammad 1

Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia 69 – Keely 26, Aljuhani 19, Dragajlovic 11, Kabe 5, Alqonisi 3, Almaghrabi 3, Ibrahim 2, Alharbi 0

Quarterscores: 19-18; 36-34; 61-55; 79-69

Second Game

Duhok of Iraq 88 – Giles 28, Al Doori 19, Gray 19, Hamad 12, Mahdi 8, Agha 2, Gorgiss 0

KL Dragons of Malaysia76 – Ayer 22, Loh 14, Morrison 11, Ooi 10, Batumalai 6, Ng 6, Kwaan 4, Ho 3, Kuppusamy 0, Chin 0

Quarterscores: 28-13; 40-38; 62-52; 88-76