Basketball: RP team succumbs to Lebanon

NATIONALS LOSE ANEW TO LEBANON

TAIPEI - The halftime music in the Powerade Team Pilipinas-Lebanon game -
the Eagles' "Take It Easy" - turned out to be a plea for mercy that echoed
before Fadi El-Khatib and company lowered the boom in the fourth quarter.

El-Khatib, the Lebanese leader, finished with 14 points and rode the
backseat to Dallas-born Brian Feghali and naturalized player Jackson Vroman
as Lebanon drubbed the Nationals, 95-83, Wednesday in the 31st William Jones
Cup tournament at the Hsinchuang gym here.

Feghali, who played three years for Louisiana State in the US NCAA, led
Lebanon with 29 points, including five 3-pointers, and 10 rebounds, while
Vroman, the replacement for Joseph Vogel, added 24 points with seven
rebounds, four assists, and five steals.

The Philippines outrebounded the Lebanese, 36-28, but turned the ball over
on 27 occasions, 12 more than the opposition.

"We just beat ourselves, and too many fouls were called on us," said
national coach Yeng Guiao, noting the RP team was awarded 15 free throws and
the Lebanese 32.

Flexing it muscle on the rare occasions it needed to, Lebanon moved up to
solo second behind unbeaten Jordan (4-0).

Three other teams - Iran, South Korea and host Taiwan - are tied at third to
fifth with 3-1 slates.

After dropping their first two games and beating Kazakhstan, the Nationals
lost their next two, falling to 1-4 just above Taiwan-B (1-5) and the
winless Kazakhs (0-5).

The RP team trailed 50-35 late in the second quarter on the strength of
Brian Feghali's outside shooting before James Yap closed out the first half
with seven straight points.

Behind Kerby Raymundo, the Nationals came back to narrow the gap at 59-57
midway in the third quarter before the veteran El-Khatib drained a
three-point shot to spark a 15-5 Lebanon run to end the RP uprising.

Four more games remain in the country's schedule, with South Korea, a
groupmate in the 25th FIBA Asia Men's Championship in Tianjin, China next
month, up next this Thursday.

In an earlier game, Jordan (4-0) kept an unblemished slate intact by
crushing previously unbeaten South Korea, 83-67, as Rasheim Wright scored 21
points and the defense forced the usually accurate Korean snipers (3-1) to
miss 20 three-point shots.

Before that, Iran (3-1), powered by 7-foot-3 Hamed Ehadadi, who had 18
points and 11 rebounds, routed Japan (1-3), 82-70, and later, Taiwan-B upset
Kazakhstan, 82-69, picking up its first win while handing the Kazakhs their
fifth straight setback.

The scores:

LEBANON 95 - Feghali 29, Vroman 24, El-Khatib 14, Fahed 11, Nour 9, Mahmoud
4, Turk 3, Kanaan 1.

POWERADE-RP 83 - Helterbrand 12, Raymundo 11, Yap 11, Pennisi 9, Santos 7,
Norwood 7, Aguilar 6, Baguio 4, Thoss 3, Taulava 3.

Quarterscores: 30-19; 50-42; 78-66; 95-73

Basketball: Japan beats RP Team

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

Basketball: Jordan rout of RP stumps local scribes

TAIPEI— Did the Philippines really play to lose—and lose big—against Jordan in its Jones Cup debut Saturday night, and maybe keep its Fiba-Asia opponents in the dark about its real worth?

That was the question that sportswriters from this progressive city tried asking a five-publication team that came from the Philippines to cover the prestigious event.

“We just don’t think that it was normal for the Philippines to play that way,” said Chen Chin-hung, a veteran reporter from the Youth Daily News Service, who had also visited Manila several times to cover the Taiwanese athletes in different events.

The Philippines, a three-time champion here which sent its finest professional stars back home, was mangled into submission by the heftier, taller and talented Jordanians, 90-59.

“So tell us,” Chen said, asking the question for his group: “Did you come here to not win at all?”

He tried so hard to get an answer that would confirm their suspicion because it could have been the angle that they were trying to work on. As Jones Cup veterans, even the Taiwanese couldn’t believe what they just saw.

* * *

It seems that Chen’s question has some bearing, since most of the countries represented here, except Jordan in all likelihood, are not playing to their true potential in order to conceal their “aces” for the Fiba-Asia qualifying in Tianjin, China, next month.

In fact, even the home team, which prevailed narrowly over Japan Saturday night, used its 7-foot ace, the pony-tailed Tseng Wen-ting, sparingly like the Japanese, who reportedly did not even bother taking their 7-foot-2 center to this tournament.

* * *

Coach Yeng Guiao will name his final 12-man roster for the Tianjin event on July 22, the deadline set by the Fiba, and he is worried that this might leak in some way and dishearten some of his players here who won’t make it.

And from the way he talked over breakfast at the Sunworld Dynasty Hotel, he still isn’t sure who will be dropped.

Guiao also said that their stint in this nine-nation tournament, aside from playing to win, is to be able to see how Korea and Japan play, since the two countries belong to the Philippine bracket in Tianjin.

Sri Lanka is the fourth team in the group.http://sports.inquirer.net/sportsevents/sportsevents/view/20090720-216284/Jordan-rout-of-RP-stumps-local-scribes

RP team seeks semis vs. Qatar

JAKARTA—FROM a team with little expectations, the Philippines has started to raise the bar with an eye on the ultimate prize in the 20th FIBA-Asia Champions Cup.The Smart Gilas Pilipinas national team solidified its growing stature as a title contender with a 98-93 win over Qadsia of Kuwait Saturday night after trailing by 18 points in the first half.

“We’re a very young team and I’m not expecting for us to go into the semifinals,” said RP coach Rajko Toroman after the Filipinos closed out their elimination-round campaign second behind Iran’s Mahram Tehran in Group A.

“But of course, everyday I’m setting my goal a little bit higher. Why not do something special for the Philippines? And that special thing is going to the finals,” added the Serbian mentor, who last year guided Iran to a breakthrough stint in the Beijing Olympics.

But first the Filipinos have to hurdle Al Arabi of Qatar in one of the four knockout quarterfinal matches set late Sunday night.

In the other quarterfinal pairings, Iran takes on India’s Young Cagers (Group B No. 4), Al Riyadi of Lebanon (A-No. 3) meets Satria Muda of Indonesia (B-No. 2) and Zain of Jordan (B-No. 1) tackles Sangmu of Korea (A-No. 4).

If the Filipinos hurdle Qatar, which has been consistently using only six players in its rotation, they will face the winner of the Jordan-Korea duel in the semifinals.

Today is a rest day with the semifinals set on Tuesday and the title game on Wednesday.

“We have to win, we have to show our character because we are already in the quarterfinals,” said Toroman as he looked forward to meeting Qatar with a full lineup. “We’re treating every game now just like the final game in the Olympics. We want to learn and we want to get the experience.”

Already assured of a quarterfinal slot before the match with winless Kuwait, the Filipinos rested their injured import CJ Giles and skipper Chris Tiu.

Giles, who strained his left quadriceps against Lebanon, was given a clean bill of health but team physicians Albert Rolle and Jimbo Saret decided to rest the 6-foot-11 import. A recurring leg injury also sidelined Tiu.

Kuwait surprised the Filipinos with a sizzling 19-4 start behind American imports Michael Harris and Joel Box.

Their offense stymied by the leech-like defense thrown at Mark Barocca, the Filipinos trailed 27-9 before moving to within three at halftime, 46-49.

The scores:

SMART GILAS-RP 98—Casio 21, Baracael 19, Ababou 16, Jazul 9, Barocca 9, Ramos 7, Guevarra 6, Slaughter 6, Ballesteros 5, Cawaling 0.

QADSIA-KUWAIT 93—Harris 32, Box 21, Albrahim 12, Al Hamidi 9, Saeed 9, Ruad 6, Mohammad 2, Abdullah 2, Hassan 0, Alajmi 0, Al Zafiri 0, Al Rashidih 0.

Quarters: 16-31, 46-49, 69-76, 98-93

RP team beats Lebanon

JAKARTA – It will definitely be a different atmosphere out there without CJ Giles.
With the 6-foot-11 Giles limping on the floor, the Smart Gilas Pilipinas National Team put up a gallant stand and survived Al Riyadi Beirut of Lebanon, 91-86, Friday to gain respect in the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup at the Britama Arena here.

Giles collided with Nate Johnson in mid-air and crashed, hurting his left knee and straining the entire leg that rendered the American import immobile for several minutes and prompted RP coach Rajko Toroman to alter his battle plans.

Good thing Mark Barocca, Dylan Ababou and Chris Tiu responded to the challenge while Aldrech Ramos and Jason Ballesteros combined their efforts on trying to push 6-foot-11 Chris Charles and Johnson out of the paint.

``Today, you saw that we're having a hard time without CJ,'' said Toroman. ``But I'm very proud of my players. They showed a lot of character out there.''

Giles was carried out of the court with the Philippines ahead, 56-46, five minutes and 38 seconds remaining in the third and had his swollen knee treated by team therapists.

Against Kuwait Saturday, Toroman said Giles would not suit up, hoping that the high-flying Smart Gilas import would be back in shape in time for the quarterfinals on Sunday.

``We don't know the extent of his injury but definitely he will not play against Kuwait,'' said Toroman after Giles was brought to the Sieta Mitra Hospital to diagnose the hurting leg. ``I hope it's nothing serious.''

``If he (Giles) couldn't play, the other big guys will definitely get a lot of minutes. The result? We'll see,'' said Toroman of his team also backed by Accel, Molten, Burlington, Cebu Pacific and Collezione by Rhett Eala.

Barocca exploded for 28 points, 17 of them in the first half when Smart Gilas opened up a 49-34 lead. After Giles went down, Lebanon snared the opportunity and erased the double-digit deficit with Johnson and Charles on the firing end.

``We played with heart and passion. We surprised Lebanon and it's a big win for us,'' said Toroman, who was also surprised with the unexpected performance of his local crew after Smart Gilas notched its second win in three games.
On Lebanon's part, the team missed its best homegrown player, Fadi El-Khatib, who sustained back spasms following a bad fall against Korea the other day.

Without El-Khatib, Johnson, a former San Miguel Beer import in the PBA, and Charles imposed themselves in the shaded area and even put Lebanon ahead, 63-62, on Johnson's long three, a minute left in the third.

With the game tied at 65, Ramos drained two crucial mid-range jumpers and added a putback off a Barocca miss for Smart Gilas to seize control, 73-67. It was then that Toroman decided to put Giles back on the battlefield with half of his leg covered with plaster.

The crowd erupted in glee as Giles gamely challenged Charles and fueled the entertainment when the wounded import caught a lob from Barocca and jammed the leather over two Lebanese defenders.

Giles drilled another jumper despite carrying his other leg for an 84-72 Smart Gilas lead that coerced Al Riyadi to push the panic button. Johnson's back-to-back threes hardly helped Lebanon's cause as there was not enough time to mount another uprising.

Barocca's floater with 37.6 seconds left and free throws by JVee Casio and Giles sealed Lebanon's second defeat in four games.

Scores:
SMART GILAS 91—Barocca 28, Giles 20, Ababou 17, Ramos 8, Tiu 8, Casio 6, Baracael 2, Cawaling 2, Jazul 0, Guevarra 0, Ballesteros 0, Slaughter 0.

AL RIYADI 86—Johnson 43, Charles 21, Fahed 8, Mahmoud 6, Ibrahim 5, Feghali 3, Balaa 0, Yehia 0, Turk 0, Fakhreddine 0, Hijazih 0.
Quarters: 26-15, 49-34, 65-all, 91-86