Gilas outlasts Japan, enters semis

CHINESE TAIPEI – Dondon Hontiveros hit two triples midway in the fourth period, keying Smart Gilas Pilipinas breakaway run for a 94-78 victory over Japan and into the semifinal round of the William Jones Cup at the Hsinjhuang Stadium, New Taipei City here last night.

Hontiveros, who struggled earlier in the tournament, also scored on a drive while Marcus Douthit imposed his will inside as the Nationals bucked the absence of playmaker JV Casio with a gutsy stand in the closing minutes.

The Nationals thus closed out the elims with a 5-2 (win-loss) card to finish third and will face Iran in the semifinals today.

Gametime is at 7 p.m.

Korea and Taiwan dispute the other final berth.

Smart Gilas overcame Keijuro Matsui’s torrid shooting from the quartercourt as he poured eight straight triples but Japan couldn’t sustain its offensive and the Nationals methodically got back into the game and seized the initiative in the fourth period behind Douthit and Hontiveros.

Douthit had a bullish game with game-high 32 points and 18 rebounds while Hontiveros provided the spark from the outside and the defensive spunk as the Filipinos forged a rematch with the Iranians regardless of the result of the Korea-Taipei game being played at press time.

The Filipinos will face the injury-plagued Iranians, whom the former beat, 73-59, in their first meeting last week, but coach Rajko Toroman thinks they’re in for a tougher fight.

“Iran is a very good defensive team even though their offense is not that good, some of their veterans are not playing,” said Toroman. “But I expect a tougher time for us because they’ve been playing well in the last two games.”

The Filipinos will play without Casio, who will be out for the rest of the tournament with a swollen left knee.

The 34-year-old Hontiveros poured in 12 of his 14 points in the last period and shackled the hot-shooting Matsui, who led the Japanese with 27 points, in the stretch that helped the Nationals pull off the victory.

“We have an advantage in height with Douthit and we tried to put the ball inside as much as possible and Marcus played good,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.

“We didn’t lose our focus in the game, we played good defense in the second half and it’s just an amazing day and an amazing shooter Japan got there,” said Toroman. “Japan has an amazing shooter, we tried everything but we couldn’t stop him.”

Toroman was referring to the 24-year-old Matsui, who went 8-of-8 from beyond the arc, including five in the first half when the Japanese just made every shot possible despite the solid defense put up by the Filipinos.

Smart Gilas tightened its defense particularly in the perimeter in the second half with Hontiveros hounding the Japanese sharpshooter in the fourth quarter.

“I’ve been struggling the whole tournament and coach was telling me I should have a breakout game,” said Hontiveros.

“But I focused on defense, my focus is really on No. 10 (Matsui),” said the Air21 standout.

Douthit also came through with the big baskets, rebounds and the interior defense when Smart Gilas needed them most.

He made all but one of his 13 charities.

“The only stats I know is that their big guy didn’t miss a free throw and our small guy didn’t miss a three,” said Japan mentor Thomas Wisman, an American who has been coaching the Japanese for two years now.

Earlier, Iran went to big man Hamed Haddadi, Javad Davari and Saman Veisi in the clutch as it turned back a tough Jordan side, 68-67, to advance to the semis.

The 7-2 Haddadi, a mainstay at Memphis in the NBA, finished with 13 points, 13 boards, six assists, five blocks and a steal but it was Davari’s two triples in the final quarter and Veisi’s short baseline jumper down the stretch that sealed the Iranians’ fifth win against two losses.

It was a sweet win for Iran, which played starting guard Mahdi Kamrani in limited minutes and missed the services of Nikkah Bahrami and Hamed Afagh due to injuries.

“This tournament we missed a lot of our main players but it also turned out good for us as our bench players are winning games for us,” said Iran’s Serbian coach Veselin Matic.

In a battle of winless teams, Malaysia leaned on a big fourth quarter run to topple United Arab Emirates, 100-89, and post its first win in seven outings.

Yoong Jing Kwaan, the same person Gilas’ Asi Taulava punched twice after the former back-punched his privates in their game several days ago, fired 24 points to pace the Malaysians, who will have a chance to finish as high as fifth place if they could win two matches in the consolation round.

The scores:

 Smart-Gilas 94 – Douthit 32, Hontiveros 14, Tiu 11, Lassiter 11, Lutz 9, Barroca 8, Aguilar 7, Taulava 2, Casio 0, Baracael 0, Ballesteros 0, Ababou 0.

Japan 78 – Matsui 27, Nishimura 11, Okada 9, Hinkley 8, Ota 7, Shonaka 5, Togashi 5, Ito 4, Arao 2, Kamata 0, Noguchi 0, Sakai 0.

Quarterscores: 24-20; 49-44; 65-68; 94-78