INQUIRER Sports

HSINCHUANG, TAIWAN?Marcus Douthit provided the key baskets as the error-prone Smart Gilas Pilipinas five scraped past Chinese Taipei in overtime, 96-93, Sunday night in the 32nd William Jones Cup International Tournament.

Douthit scored six of the RP team?s last seven points in the extra period as the Filipinos bucked the host country?s homecourt edge and the deplorable officiating at the Hsinchuang Coliseum here.

The RP team?s candidate for naturalization finished with 33 points and grabbed 22 rebounds, eight of them on the offensive end.

Chris Tiu and JVee Casio also pulled off two crucial stops to seal the country?s third victory in four games.

Protecting a 95-93 edge, Tiu stole off a driving Lee Hsueh-lin, then split his free throws as Taipei resorted to a quick foul.

The Taiwanese set up a desperation play but Casio had Lee well covered, forcing the cat-quick guard into another miscue as the final buzzer sounded.

Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman was pleased with the outcome, although he blasted the officiating.

The Serbian coach was particularly incensed when Douthit was slapped a technical foul for talking to Cheng Jen-wei after a rebound play with 25.93 ticks left.

Cheng was later awarded two charities plus ball possession.

?This is the worst officiating in my 22 years as a basketball coach,? said Toroman.

?The referee wasn?t there. He came from nowhere and didn?t even hear what Marcus said. He tried to decide the game,? added Toroman.

Taiwanese coach Chang Hsueh-lei questioned the referees on his team?s botched desperation play after Casio stripped the ball away from Lee in the dying seconds.

Chang claimed that Casio traveled, but game officials ignored him.

?It was a good game and we deserved to win,? said Toroman, whose boys will face the Japanese national team on Monday.

The bulky 6-foot-10 Douthit?s tip-in in the last minute of regulation almost sealed the win for the Filipinos, but Yang Chin-min drilled a three-pointer in the waning seconds to force the extension at 80-all.

?It?s probably his (Douthit?s) career high,? said Toroman. ?He played great but I also think we have a lot of players who also contributed and made this win possible.?

Mac Baracael?s free throws and a three-pointer by Chris Lutz gave Smart Gilas an 89-82 lead, before Chinese Taipei scored six straight points on the incursions of Chen Shun-hsia.

The scores:

SMART GILAS 96?Douthit 33, Baracael 14, Lutz 13, Lassiter 12, Aguilar 11, Casio 9, Tiu 4, Barroca 0, Ababou 0, Ballesteros

CHINESE TAIPEI 93?Chen SH 32, Chen TW 16, Lee 13, Chen SN 9, Yang 8, Mao 8, Chen CH 4, Lu 2, Cheng 1, Chang 0.

Quarters: 16-13, 34-34, 58-50, 80-80 (reg.), 96-93