Japan edged out Powerade-Pilipinas in a William Jones Cup game that both teams played at half-throttle, but national coach Yeng Guiao believed there were valuable lessons gained from the defeat.
“Our emphasis before the game was to learn as much as we can from the Japanese,” Guiao said after an 87-85 loss to Japan which dug itself out from a 19-point hole at the Hsinchuang Gymnasium here.
“We know deep in our hearts that we can beat them,” he added. “There were just lapses on our part, some mental mistakes.
“But we can handle them come (Tianjin) China,” Guiao assured Filipino scribes, referring to the Fiba Asia world championship qualifier where Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka are bracketed in the same group with the Philippines.
Japan also tried to conceal some of its aces during the game, but went all out in the stretch by unleashing its veterans and dealing the Philippines its third loss in four outings in this nine-team event.
The Japanese (1-2) drew 24 points and eight rebounds from 6-foot-10 center Kosuke Takeuchi, and 12 points, two assists and two blocks from guard Shin Kashiwagi, who rejected Jayjay Helterbrand’s potential game-winning triple try at the buzzer.
Japeth Aguilar shot 17 points and had seven rebounds in sustaining his improved play. His excellent form made him a shoo-in for the final 12-man roster for Tianjin which Guiao, consultant Jong Uichico and the rest of the coaching staff were deciding on Tuesday night.
Guiao declined to identify the two players who will be cut at the end of this tournament. The Philippines hopes to submit the team’s final roster the end of office hours today, the deadline set by the Fiba.
The Philippines made 9 of 26 attempts from the three-point arc as Willie Miller, again starting out at the point, finished with 14 markers and five rebounds.
James Yap hit a triple with 4:45 left in the second period to give the Filipinos their biggest lead of the game, 36-17.
Japan, however, pruned this down to four points at the end of the half as Guiao tried different combinations and the enemy began to connect from the field.
A three-point play by Kei Iragashi off Kerby Raymundo with 7.3 seconds left gave the Japanese an 86-82 lead, which Jared Dillinger cut down with a trey from way out with 4.8 seconds left, 86-85.
Kashiwagi then split his free throws off a Helterbrand foul with four ticks left for what turned out to be the final score. But Helterbrand, after bouncing the ball off the back of Kashiwagi, went for a triple but got rejected.
Lebanon, meanwhile, welcomed Jackson Vroman to the lineup but did not suit up Fadi El-Khatib in a 77-73 decision of Kazakhstan in an earlier game marred by lousy officiating.
The scores:
JAPAN 87—Takeuchi 24, Kashiwagi 12, Takeda 9, Ishizaki 9, Sakurai 7, Orimo 7, Amino 7, Igarashi 5, Ito 4, Okada 3.
POWERADE-PILIPINAS 85—Aguilar 17, Miller 14, Santos 10, Dillinger 8, Thoss 8, Raymundo 5, Yap 5, De Ocampo 5, Norwood 5, Baguio 4, Taulava 2, Helterbrand 2.
Quarters: 12-27, 36-40, 61-61, 87-85
“Our emphasis before the game was to learn as much as we can from the Japanese,” Guiao said after an 87-85 loss to Japan which dug itself out from a 19-point hole at the Hsinchuang Gymnasium here.
“We know deep in our hearts that we can beat them,” he added. “There were just lapses on our part, some mental mistakes.
“But we can handle them come (Tianjin) China,” Guiao assured Filipino scribes, referring to the Fiba Asia world championship qualifier where Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka are bracketed in the same group with the Philippines.
Japan also tried to conceal some of its aces during the game, but went all out in the stretch by unleashing its veterans and dealing the Philippines its third loss in four outings in this nine-team event.
The Japanese (1-2) drew 24 points and eight rebounds from 6-foot-10 center Kosuke Takeuchi, and 12 points, two assists and two blocks from guard Shin Kashiwagi, who rejected Jayjay Helterbrand’s potential game-winning triple try at the buzzer.
Japeth Aguilar shot 17 points and had seven rebounds in sustaining his improved play. His excellent form made him a shoo-in for the final 12-man roster for Tianjin which Guiao, consultant Jong Uichico and the rest of the coaching staff were deciding on Tuesday night.
Guiao declined to identify the two players who will be cut at the end of this tournament. The Philippines hopes to submit the team’s final roster the end of office hours today, the deadline set by the Fiba.
The Philippines made 9 of 26 attempts from the three-point arc as Willie Miller, again starting out at the point, finished with 14 markers and five rebounds.
James Yap hit a triple with 4:45 left in the second period to give the Filipinos their biggest lead of the game, 36-17.
Japan, however, pruned this down to four points at the end of the half as Guiao tried different combinations and the enemy began to connect from the field.
A three-point play by Kei Iragashi off Kerby Raymundo with 7.3 seconds left gave the Japanese an 86-82 lead, which Jared Dillinger cut down with a trey from way out with 4.8 seconds left, 86-85.
Kashiwagi then split his free throws off a Helterbrand foul with four ticks left for what turned out to be the final score. But Helterbrand, after bouncing the ball off the back of Kashiwagi, went for a triple but got rejected.
Lebanon, meanwhile, welcomed Jackson Vroman to the lineup but did not suit up Fadi El-Khatib in a 77-73 decision of Kazakhstan in an earlier game marred by lousy officiating.
The scores:
JAPAN 87—Takeuchi 24, Kashiwagi 12, Takeda 9, Ishizaki 9, Sakurai 7, Orimo 7, Amino 7, Igarashi 5, Ito 4, Okada 3.
POWERADE-PILIPINAS 85—Aguilar 17, Miller 14, Santos 10, Dillinger 8, Thoss 8, Raymundo 5, Yap 5, De Ocampo 5, Norwood 5, Baguio 4, Taulava 2, Helterbrand 2.
Quarters: 12-27, 36-40, 61-61, 87-85
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