INQUIRER Sports

TIANJIN, CHINA ? A never-say-die Powerade-Pilipinas crew reached the end of the road in its bid to crash the World Championship next year, bowing to rock-solid Jordan, 81-70, Friday in a fiercely fought Fiba Asia quarterfinal contest at the Tianjin Gymnasium here.

Given very little chance of posting an upset, the Filipinos stayed with the Jordanians the whole game, even getting as close as five points with six minutes left in the fourth before falling short against an opponent that beat them silly the last time out.

?We knew right from the start that we were the terrible underdogs,? said Philippine coach Yeng Guiao, whose squad lost by 31 points to the Jordanians in the Jones Cup three weeks ago.

?We tried to keep the game as close as possible and maybe get the chance to win it in the end.

?We will still look at it (the loss) in a positive way, because we feel that we are still improving. But we are disappointed because we felt that this was our best chance to get to the Final Four.?

The Philippines, assured of at least an eighth-place finish with the loss, will next battle Qatar to stay on track of finishing fifth in the consolation round.

Defending champion Iran broke away in the fourth quarter to top the Qataris, 75-65, in the day?s second game.

Iran advanced opposite the Jordanians, although the reigning Fiba Asia champions will be at a slight disadvantage after losing playmaker Mahdi Kamrany, who took a very scary tumble while going for a layup at the end of the third period.

The wily guard had to be carried off the floor by his teammates and laid on the sidelines for the remainder of the game while being attended to by team trainers.

Jordan actually hurt the Philippines in its own game in the first half by connecting almost at will from the outside. Big forward Ayman Idais hit all five of his triples in the first two periods to finish with 20 before fouling out in the middle of the fourth.

And when the Filipinos, who trailed by as many as 15, 67-52, at the end of the third, came to within 68-63 after a breakaway layup by Cyrus Baguio with 6:06 to go, the Jordanians scored seven unanswered points to rebuild a 75-63 lead going into the final 3:24.

Rasheim Wright, Jordan?s naturalized point guard, exploded for 15 points in the final two quarters, including a keyhole jumper with 1:50 to go which put the Philippines into a 79-67 hole.

It was all over but the shouting after Wright added another free throw off a Gabe Norwood foul for a 13-point lead heading into the final 81 seconds.

?We played against a very good team,? Jordan coach Mario Palma said. ?This is definitely a better Philippine national team than the one we played two years ago. It?s not easy playing a team like the Philippines.?

The Jordanians made the Final Four of this tournament for the first time while conquering the Philippines in a very important match for the second time in as many Fiba Asia tournaments.

In the Tokushima, Japan, edition in 2007?which served as qualifier for the 2008 Olympics?Jordan scored an 84-76 victory in an elimination-round encounter that sent the Filipinos to the classification stage where they eventually finished ninth.

Norwood went on to topscore for the Philippines with 11 points off the bench with Jared Dillinger and Willie Miller contributing 10 apiece.

Team Philippines connected on 12-of-37 triple tries but was terrible from the charity stripe, missing seven of 19 shots which could have gone a long way against a team like Jordan.

?You can?t miss free throws and expect to win against a top-caliber team like Jordan,? Guiao said.

The Philippines also got mangled off the boards, 49-38 with, ironically, James Yap grabbing the most number of boards for the Filipinos with seven.

Yap, the deadliest three-point shooter in the Philippine squad, had to battle a swarming defense all game that didn?t give him too many looks at the basket.

He made just two of his eight triple attempts and finished with just six points.

The scores:
JORDAN 81?Wright 21, Idais 20, Abbas Z. 9, Soobzokov 9, Alkhas 6, Daghles 6, Alawadi 4, Al-Sous 4, Hadrab 2, Alnajjar 0, Almaaytah 0, Abbas I. 0.

POWERADE-PILIPINAS 70?Norwood 11, Dillinger 10, Miller 10, Pennisi 9, Baguio 9, Taulava 7, Yap 6, Raymundo 4, Thoss 2, Helterbrand 2, Aguilar 0, Santos 0.
Quarters: 22-17; 45-33; 67-52; 81-70