There’s no ‘no bearing game’ for the unscathed Filipinos as they did not take their feet off the pedal by dismantling the pesky Qatar, 80-74, while sweeping the Group B of Fiba Asia Cup at Nouhad Nawfal Sports Complex in Beirut, Lebanon.
Facing the giants of Qatar without the presence of Standhardinger and Fajardo, Gilas Pilipinas slogged through the first quarter by consistently firing in all cylinders, lead by waxing hot Matthew Wright, and impressive ball movement – showing that Qatar’s size didn’t end up mattering as much as it should have – and gave themselves an early 9-point lead, 25-16
The Qatar team, however, realized the lack of rotation in the front line of the Gilas Pilipinas as they forced their way inside the paint while capturing significant fouls from the remaining Gilas bigmen Japeth Aguilar, Raymond Almazan and Gabe Norwood.
With this, lacking the size in the front line due to foul trouble, Carl Bryan Cruz provided sparks, not only from his outside snipping, but also inside the paint by receiving excellent extra passes from the Gilas guards to secure a ballooning 14-point lead at the end of the half, 41-27.
Ironically, as the size of the line up gets smaller, Gilas still dominated in rebounding department in the first half of action with 26 boards compared to Qatar’s 14.
Not yet finished, Gilas Pilipinas continued to expose their game long brilliance by dominating in both sides of the court courtesy of their lock down defense and offensive prowess, pushing the lead up to 18 points, but the pesky Qatar caught a glimpse of hope through their combined inside and outside plays and trimmed the cushion into 11 points, 58-47.
In the final period, the gritty Qataris managed to trade baskets with the Filipinos and even winning the shootout while narrowing the deficit by as much as 5 points. But that seemed to be their last push as the relentless Filipinos closed the door for the Qataris by continuing to catch fire from beyond the arc courtesy of fiery Matthew Wright and sealed the win at 80-74.
Wright spearheaded the Gilas Pilipinas’ rainbow country surge with his 7/12 three-point accuracy and a total 25 points, while Cruz also gave a 13-point performance.
Gabe Norwood, meanwhile, known for his defense, contributed 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists while Terrence Romeo also scored 10 points, 2 boards and 3 dimes.
As for the Qatar, only two players reached the double-digit scoring – Elhadary with his 23 huge points and Saad with 18 markers.
Gilas will next face the winner of Japan and South Korea in the knockout quarterfinals on Wednesday, August 16. | Tretch Melarpes – PTV
The scores:
Philippines 80 – Wright 25, Cruz 13, Norwood 10, Romeo 10, William 6, Pogoy 5, Almazan 4, Aguilar 3, Abueva 2, Jalalon 2
Qatar 74 – Elhadary 23, Saad 18, Erfan 9, Abdelhaleem 8, Mohamed 6, Al-Muftah 6, Mohmmed 4
Quarter scores – 26-16, 41-27, 58-47, 80-74