‘Gilas Pilipinas’ beats Kuwaitis, meets Qatar squad in quarters

MANILA, Philippines –The Smart Gilas Pilipinas basketball team turned back Kuwaiti league champions Al Oadsia, 98-93, to formally clinch a quarterfinal spot in the 20th FIBA Asia Champions Cup Saturday night in Jakarta, Indonesia. According to the FIBA Asia’s official website, the Filipinos come-from-behind win gave them a 3-1 record to finish Group A eliminations in second place behind unbeaten Mahram of Iran and a place in the knock out stages. “Gilas Pilipinas" tackles Al Arabi of Qatar at 8 p.m. Sunday with eyes set on a semifinal slot. Against Oadsia, FIBA Asia’s website reported that the Pinoy bets played without star Chris Tiu and import CJ Miles but managed to adjust and seize their morale-boosting triumph. “Their defense surprised us in the first two quarters," Smart Gilas coach Rajkov Toroman said. “And it took us time to rework our tactics, especially in the absence of Chris Tiu and CJ Giles." "Gilas Pilipinas" trailed most of the way, 16-31 in the first quarter and even 69-76 entering the final canto and Toroman expressed satisfaction with his young wards determination to fight back and composure down the stretch. “Even when I took the final time-out my message to the players was ‘we can either die like warriors or die like chickens.’ I’m proud my boys came out warriors," Toroman said. La Salle gunner JV Casio and FEU's Marcel Baracel took scoring cudgels for the Philippines with Casio firing 21 points and Baracel firing 19 on a near perfect 9-of-10 clip. UST's Dylan Ababou added 16 for the RP squad, a pool of collegiate stars which is aiming to make it to the 2012 Olympics. Oadsia's Mike Harris led all scorers with 32 while getting 21 from Joel Box. With no win to show in four outings, the Kuwaiti champs were relegated into the consolation round, battling Gulf rivals Al Wasl of UAE in a play-off for the ninth place. –GMANews.TV