2013 FIBA Asia Championship: Gilas loses steam, hands Chinese Taipei top spot in Group A

(Updated 10:18pm) Chinese Taipei blocked Gilas Pilipinas from sweeping Group A with a come-from-behind victory, 84-79, Saturday, in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Gilas (2-1) and Chinese Taipei (3-0) will advance to Group E in the second round, joined by Japan, Qatar, Hong Kong, and the winner of the Saudi Arabia-Jordan tiff. After a single round-robin, the top four teams will advance to the quarterfinals.

“First of all I want to apologize to our countrymen in Taiwan. We wanted to win this game for them because they've been subjected to a lot of abuse,” said Gilas head coach Chot Reyes.

Reyes also admitted he could've done better with rotating and managing his players. Only seven players played more than 15 minutes tonight.

“We spent a lot of energy in our chase, and we didn't have enough energy in the end game,” he added.

Gilas bucked a slow start, trailing by as much as 11 points, to drown Chinese Taipei under a torrent of three-point shooting, highlighted by Larry Fonacier's four triples in the third quarter. Down but not out, Chinese Taipei unleashed a 17-4 rally early in the fourth quarter to knot the game at 72-all.

Chinese Taipei nosed ahead briefly on a Tseng Wen-Ting drive, but Gilas went down low to Marcus Douthit, who scored their next five points, 81-77. The home team however trailed after consecutive treys, courtesy of Tseng and Lu Cheng-Ju, with a minute and a half remaining.

After a Gilas timeout, offensive rebounds and steals rewarded them with a Jayson Castro layup, to trail by just two, 81-79, with 40 seconds to play. However, Gabe Norwood was called for a blocking foul on the next play, sending Lin Chih-Cheih to the charity stripe. Lin made both, 83-79, forcing Gilas to burn their penultimate timeout with 37 ticks left.

The Philippines came no closer as a Ranidel De Ocampo triple fell off the mark, forcing them to foul Lin anew. Lin split with 20 seconds left, 84-79, allowing Taipei to escape with the win.

“I think Chinese Taipei never gave up. We were down 13, but we won again,” said head coach Hsu Chin-Che.

Lin put on a great performance with 20 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists. Lu led his team with 22 points and five rebounds, while Tien Lei added 18 points. Tseng scored 16 points and issued five assists off the bench.

After starting off with a Ranidel De Ocampo trey, the Philippines fell behind as Chinese Taipei were quick to get in transition. Tien Lei and Lin Chin-Chieh hit triples, and Quincy Davis slammed an alley-oop in transition during a 12-1 run, 12-4.

Gilas caught a breather as Castro scored charities off a drive, but Chinese Taipei was relentless from the perimeter, swallowing a couple more triples by De Ocampo. Tien drained two of Chinese Taipei's next four three-pointers, 26-15, with two minutes to play. Gilas briefly narrowed it to single digits off a Gabe Norwood jumper and a Marcus Douthit slam, but charities by Tseng Wen-Ting in the final minute allowed them to keep a 30-19 lead after the first period.

Tien tallied 13 points in the first period, shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Gilas took advantage of Chinese Taipei's zone early in the second quarter, as the Talk 'N Text duo of Larry Fonacier and Jimmy Alapag hit triples in an 8-0 run, 30-27, forcing their opponents to call timeout barely three minutes into the frame. Unfazed, Alapag tied the tally when play resumed with a three-point play, 30-30.

Chinese Taipei enjoyed a short streak as Lu Cheng-Ju and Lin scored from beyond the arc anew for eight unanswered, but they found themselves stymied whenever they tried to enter the lane. On the other end, Alapag broke the rally with another and-one, and Norwood bannered an ensuing 11-0 run for Gilas, 41-38, with two minutes to play.

The Philippines conceded just one more field goal, a Tien triple, before taking a 43-42 halftime lead.

After two quarters, Gilas shot 14-of-34 (41 percent) from the field, including 6-of-14 (43 percent) from long range. In contrast, Chinese Taipei was 14-of-28 (50 percent), counting 9-of-16 (56 percent) from beyond the arc. Gilas led 22-14 in rebounding and 14-8 in points in the paint.

The game slowed down at the start of the third period, but Gilas was quick to take advantage of Chinese Taipei's miscues. Fonacier drained three triples, scoring 11 points in a 15-2 run, 60-46.

A Lu triple broke a short drought for Chinese Taipei, but sluggish defense allowed Gilas to maintain their double-digit lead. Fonacier scored Gilas' last five points to deliver a 68-55 lead heading into the final frame.

But that lead evaporated in the fourth, as Davis and Lu exploited the perimeter for a 14-2 run. Lin then drained a tough three-pointer, 70-69, to force a Gilas timeout with under six minutes remaining. Castro uncorked a drive when play resumed, but Lu countered from deep to knot the game, 72-72, midway through the period, before Chinese Taipei took control late.

“There are really no words to say. We just start from here and prepare for the next round,” said a dejected Fonacier after the game.

Moving forward, Reyes said they need to just focus on the upcoming rounds. “We're aware of the possibility [of meeting China in the quarterfinals],” he said when asked whether he thought choosing Group A was the right decision. “I'm sick and tired of that question; if we went to Group D and we lost to Kazakhstan, we might not even make it to the quarterfinals. Whoever we play there, we play. It doesn't matter who.”

Chinese Taipei shot a sizzling 30-of-56 (54 percent) from the field, counting 15-of-30 from beyond the arc. Gilas struggled late, registering a 28-of-74 (38 percent) mark, including 10-of-28 (36 percent) from beyond the arc.

Gilas led 30-14 in points in the paint, but only managed to tie Chinese Taipei in turnover points, 11-11, despite committing less miscues, 6-16.

Larry Fonacier led Gilas with 21 points, shooting 5-of-7 from long range. Marcus Douthit registered 16 points and 10 rebounds. Ranidel De Ocampo delivered 13 points, while Jayson Castro notched 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists. - RAF, GMA News


The scores:
 

Chinese Taipei 84: Lu 22, Lin 20, Tien 18, Tseng 16, Davis 6, Yang 2, Lee 0, Chen 0, Chou 0, Tsai 0, Creighton 0

 

Philippines 79: Fonacier 21, Douthit 16, De Ocampo 13, Castro 11, Norwood 9, Alapag 9, David 0, Tenorio 0, Chan 0, Fajardo 0, Aguilar 0, Pingris 0

 

Quarterscores: 30-19, 42-43, 55-68, 84-79