Gilas Pilipinas cagers outlast hosts Indonesia for 5th place

MANILA, Philippines – The Smart Gilas Pilipinas team squandered an 11 point lead but held off a spirited charge by hosts Satria Muda to pull off a 112-107 overtime win and clinch fifth place in the 20th FIBA Asia Champions Cup in Jakarta on Wednesday. According to a report on the FIBA Asia website, the Filipinos appeared headed to an easy win when they seized a 68-57 lead after the third quarter. But the Indonesians fought back hard in the payoff period, with import Nakiea Miller firing 17 of his game-high 41 points and Julius Faisal hitting a trey and two free throws to knot the score at 94 and force an extension. The Filipino cagers then reasserted their dominance and sealed the win with a solid defense down the stretch, the hosts struggling without Miller who fouled out with still 3:53 to go in OT. Spitfire Mark Barocca spearheaded a balanced offensive for Gilas Pilipinas with 31 points with reinforcement CJ Giles adding 24, Dylan Ababou 20, John Ramos 14 and Chris Tiu 14. Miller got scoring help from Faisal (23) and Amin Prihantono (17) as Satria ended up sixth in the annual tournament. It was the first international competition for Gilas Pilipinas, a pool of collegiate stars tasked to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics. Impressing the crowd with their speed and spunk, the youngsters won three of their four games in the eliminations, losing only to eventual champion Mahram of Iran, to advance to the quarterfinals. However, they stumbled against a taller and more experienced Al Arabi of Qatar in the quarters, 71-76, to slide to the relegation phase, where they whipped Korean Army outfit Sangmoon, 98-78, to earn a spot in Wednesday’s battle for fifth with Satria. – GMANews.TV