Gilas beats Kazakhstan but misses semis

INCHEON, Korea – Gilas Pilipinas finally fielded Marcus Douthit and the man responded together with the core of Team Gilas to beat Kazakhstan,  67-65, yesterday, a two-point margin not enough to figure in the tiebreak for the second semifinal berth in basketball in the Asian Games here.

Thus ended the Gilas saga in Incheon, a run with shifting fortunes, sorry losses, fading finishes and backroom decision that led to the suspension of the naturalized player for disciplinary action, in the process greatly reducing the edge of the Filipinos over the young South Korean squad in their crucial showdown Saturday.

“We’re out officially of the Asian Games. Sad day for Phl basketball,” said Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president and the team’s chief benefactor Manny V. Pangilinan. “Back to the drawing board – let’s just move on. We must keep in mind that the road to the Asian Championship will be long and tough, and the climb will be steep. The important thing though is to show we’re improving – however gradually. Mabuhay Pilipinas!”

Meanwhile, Malacañang lauded Gilas Pilipinas after its close win over Kazakhstan.

“Congratulations to Gilas for fighting the good fight for proud Filipinos all over the world,” Deputy Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a text message.

Thus came to a close Gilas’ long journey to regain world recognition for Philippine basketball, reaching its heights with a stint in the World Cup in Spain and sinking to the pit with its swift exit in the Asian Games where it was a pre-tournament favorite.

The Nationals raced to an 18-point lead, 50-32, late in the third and maintained the initiative until they started missing and the Kazakhs started hitting from the long range to close the gap.

With the Filipinos leading by only two points, with time down to 14.6 seconds, Marcus Douthit inbounded to Jimmy Alapag, who passed the ball back to the him under the basket.

Douthit took the shot to the Kazakhstan basket with the intention of making it 67-all to force the overtime, and from there, hope the Philippines would win by at least 10 points to advance.

The referee considered the “own goal” intentional and therefore illegal and awarded ball possession to the Kazakhs and the score remaining at 65-67.

“We asked the referee from Korea (or Japan) about it (own goal) and it was allowed, so we did it. The Iranian ref nullified it,” said national coach Chot Reyes.

“Unfortunately we had to do something like that because we had to survive,” he added.

With 10 seconds left to play, Jeff Chan fouled top gunner Anatoliy Kolesnikov to bring him to the foul line to take two shots that could, hopefully, bring the count to 67-all at regulation.

Kolesnikov knew what he had to do.

The Kazakhs didn’t have to win the game because a loss would put Kazakhstan into a three-way tie with the Philippines and Qatar on similar concluding marks of 1-2 if Qatar lost to Korea in the last game.

In that scenario, Kazakhstan would end with the positive points differential of +6, with the Philippines a -6 and Qatar also a minus regardless of the score against Korea.

As if on cue from his coach and the Kazakhs already grinning from the bench, Kolesnikov threw an air ball, even guiding the feeble flight of the ball with the slow downward motion of his hand.

After Chan missed a three-pointer in the ensuing play, the Kazakhs celebrated on court as if they were the winners of the game and the Filipinos the losers.

“We are now out of contention for a medal and that’s the story of this ballgame,” said Reyes.

The Filipinos were very much in control the moment they erected a sizable lead of 32-16 after an 18-16 hairline edge early in the second quarter.

They maintained leads of over 10 points most of the way, even widening the gap to 50-32 near the end of the third quarter.

Smart Gilas’ last double digit lead was at 65-51 in the last four minutes of play before the Filipinos, with a history of endgame collapses, missed shot after shot, from Douthit’s undergoals to the outside shots of LA Tenorio and Chan.

“They called a timeout when we were up by 12. I said let’s keep pushing on the gas,” said Reyes.

“We had to win by 11, but as usual we fizzled out again in the end. We didn’t have enough gas to finish strong. We won but we really lost,” he added.

As the Filipinos went cold, the Kazakhs, led by Kolesnikov, kept hammering at the basket, drawing intentional fouls. The Kazakhs went to the foul line to score eight points in a 12-2 romp, reducing the Philippine lead to 65-67. That’s when the Philippine camp used its last option, an own goal which was nullified.