TOKYO – Smart Gilas’ offensives faltered in an atrocious windup as it blew an eight-point lead to a youthful Chinese squad and dropped a 68-71 decision in the opener of the fourth FIBA Asia Cup at the Ota City Gymnasium Friday.
The Nationals seized initiative at 64-56 on an 16-2 attack, but went scoreless in the next five minutes of the contest and hastened their doom with fatal scoring slump in the last 1:10 as the Chinese escaped with the come-from-behind win.
Jeff Chan, Gary David and LA Tenorio missed four open three-point shots in the last 32 seconds, and the Chinese whooped it up in celebration of their triumphant Asia Cup debut.
The Filipinos crashed back to earth after soaring high with their Jones Cup championship while China posted a big victory after its Olympic debacle.
Gilas coach Chot Reyes said his team throwing bricks was the story of the game.
“I thought we played hard against this very good and very tall young Chinese team. We got our chances but we blew them,” said Reyes.
“We couldn’t make our free throws. We missed them and we lost. Hopefully we learn from this game and we make our free throws in the next games,” added Reyes whose players bungled 10 of 24 charities.
Also deserting Gilas in this game was its three-point shooting – its key weapon in its title run in the recent Jones Cup.
The Nationals knocked in just six of 35 attempts from beyond the arc, going 1-of-13 in the final canto.
Reyes and his troops face another acid test in going up against Lebanon at 7 p.m. (6 p.m. Manila time) Saturday.
Lebanon toyed with Macau, 120-51, while Iran drubbed India, 83-71, in the early matches.
“It was an excellent game with the momentum shifting back and forth. We beat them in the end, and it’s a good experience for our young players,” said Chinese coach Fan Bin of their escape act versus the Filipinos.
The Nationals had their share of bad breaks with Marcus Douthit getting into foul-trouble situation early and Jarred Dillinger hurting his right knee just when he’s on a roll, keying Gilas’ crucial surge early in the fourth quarter.
“He (Dillinger) asked to be taken out and, in the end, I stayed with the five (Douthit, Tenorio, David, Chan and Gabe Norwood) that had been very effective all throughout with me. Apparently, it was a wrong decision,” said Reyes.
The Chinese, meanwhile, went roaring with gunner Zhao Tailong, point guard Guo Ailun and big men Yu Changdong and Wu Ke in the homestretch, surging ahead at 67-64.
After Douthit failed to complete a three-point play, Zhao came through with a clutch basket as the Chinese took the 71-68 lead which they preserved to the finish.
Guo and Zhao paced the Chinese with 18 and 11 points, respectively, while Ranidel de Ocampo, Douthit, Fonacier, Tenorio, Norwood, Dillinger and David made at least seven points each in a balanced scoring by the Filipinos.