Gilas bows out of Dubai tourney with loss to Lebanese powerhouse Sagesse

The Philippine national team tried to fight firepower with firepower, but Lebanese side Segasse just had more weapons and more poise, eliminating the Gilas squad from the Dubai Invitational Basketball Tournament 95-65, Thursday (early Friday, PHL time) at the Al Ahli gym.

Sensya na mga kabayan. Di talaga kaya. Natapilok pa si Marcus

— Chot Reyes (@coachot) January 17, 2013

The national team got out to a slow start, conceding a 10-0 run to their opponents. Following a timeout though, Marcus Douthit finally got Gilas on the scoring board with a low post move. Still, Sagesse was able to run up the score to 18-2 before KG Canaleta nailed his side's second field goal of the game, a pull-up jumper. The Air21 Express player would add five more markers in the quarter, but the Philippines was still down 28-12 at the end of the first. In the second, the professional Lebanese squad ran up their lead to 21, 43-22, but twin triples by Canaleta sandwiched a dunk by Douthit for an 8-3 run, 46-30. Sagesse had the last say of the first half however, tipping in a missed triple to make it 48-30 at the break. The halftime intermission did nothing to douse Canaleta's hot shooting, as the streaky sniper knocked down three straight triples to slice Gilas' deficit down to 11, 50-39. A Douthit block then led to a Gilas fast break attempt, which Fil-Am point guard Justin Melton capitalized on, scoring a lay-up to make it a single-digit lead for Sagesse, 50-41. Sagesse briefly inflated their lead back up to 14, before yet another Canaleta triple reeled Gilas in close, 60-49. This time though, the nationals were unable to sustain their momentum, as their opponents unleashed an 8-0 run to make it 68-49. A basket right before the buzzer gave them some relief however, 68-51, one quarter left to play. Things looked grim for Gilas when naturalized center Douthit was forced to hobble to the bench early in the final period, but Melton and Canaleta still had enough punch in them to get Gilas within 12, 70-58. Undaunted, Sagesse showed off their veteran wiles, scoring a decisive 14-0 run to put them up 84-58. Ronjay Buenafe ended the Philippines' silence with a trey, but Sagesse saw his triple and doubled that for a 90-61 lead, putting the game well out of reach. Canaleta led Gilas in scoring with 32 big points, 24 coming from beyond the arc as he converted a whopping eight triples. Marcus Douthit was the only other player however to score in double figures with 11. The Philippines got off to a good start in the tourney, pulling off a come-from-behind 79-77 win over Mouttahed in their first outing, but they never got another win after that, falling to Al Ahli 97-82, and then to Sporting Aramex 75-65. The seven-team field meant they were still through to the quarterfinals though, but Segasse was just more than the team could handle.   Up next for the Philippines is the King's Cup tournament in Hong Kong. - AMD, GMA News