LA Tenorio drives past Qatar’s Mohd Yousuf Mohamed at the height of Gilas’ third-quarter assault at the Asian Games in Incheon. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
INCHEON, South Korea—The team that won a lot of hearts in the Fiba World Cup is breaking a lot of them here at the 17th Asian Games.
Qatar rode a scorching 19-0 run that bridged the middle quarters to hammer out a huge 77-68 victory over Gilas Pilipinas Friday night at Hwaseong Sports Complex gymnasium, pushing the highly touted Nationals into a must-win game against host South Korea, which is aching for revenge.
The Qataris drew firepower from center Mohd Yousuf Mohamed and point guard Boney Harold Watson in handing the Philippines a crucial quarterfinal loss that forced the team into a virtual do-or-die against South Korea.
The host team is hoping to use its homecourt edge to avenge a semifinal loss in the Fiba Asia championship in Manila last year. The two fierce rivals square off on Saturday at 2 p.m. (1 p.m. Manila time) at Samsan World Gymnasium, but that seems to be the least of coach Chot Reyes’ worries—going by a highly charged postgame press conference.
“I’m not worried about who we are playing,” the mercurial national mentor said. “I’m more worried about my team. We have to find out who is willing to play.”
Another defeat would give Gilas Pilipinas a 0-2 record in the quarterfinals. A victory by Qatar over Kazakhstan, also slated Saturday, would officially oust the Filipinos from medal contention.
“We gambled taking the three-point shot,” said Qatar coach Vasileios Fragkias, whose ploy worked as even his big men were nailing shots from beyond the arc to help the squad to a 10-of-23 clip from there.
Mohamed finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, nailing a pair of triples at the start of the second half, where the Qataris stormed out of the locker-room break and dominated both ends of the floor. Those triples highlighted a 19-0 run that Qatar used to overhaul a 32-39 second-quarter deficit and erect a 51-39 spread.
By the time Gary David broke the dry spell, Qatar had already held Gilas scoreless for almost nine minutes in the period.
Jimmy Alapag, who personified the “puso” battlecry the Philippines used to score moral victories in the World Cup in Seville, Spain, tried to resuscitate the country’s campaign, bunching three triples in a 1:45 span to move the Nationals within five, 56-51.
But Erfan Ali Saeed completely picked Marcus Douthit apart in the fourth, scoring six of nine Qatar points in the middle part of that period to give his team a 68-59 edge.
‘Our big guy just quit’
“Our big guy, Douthit, just quit,” said Reyes. “I don’t know what happened. Towards the end of the first half, he was at the dugout watching a music video. He was the last to leave the dugout. He had a very bad body language. And Qatar pounced on him.”
“If Marcus doesn’t want to play, we will just play all-Filipino. It is useless to use a player who doesn’t want to play. If he has some issues, I don’t know what it is. I didn’t even scold him. I didn’t even say anything to him in the first half. I have no idea. If he wants to go home, he can go home. The players are really upset,” added Reyes.
Reyes later clarified the naturalized New Yorker wasn’t the only one who seemed lost against Qatar: “It wasn’t just Marcus. We have other players who were not ready to play. That’s what we have to figure out.”
Gilas Pilipinas blew several chances in the stretch, missing three shots, turning the ball over once and making just one field goal—another Alapag trey—to nullify a few bright spots on offense.
Turnovers again hurt the Nationals. After limiting themselves to just five in the first half, where they had Qatar facing a 36-39 deficit, the Filipinos committed eight in the third quarter to help fuel Qatar’s killer run and five more in the fourth that slowed whatever comeback they launched.
In all, Qatar scored 25 points off Gilas Pilipinas’ 18 turnovers.
The scores:
QATAR 77—Mohamed MY 19, Watson 15, Daoud 11, Saeed 10, Abdi 8, Mohamed MH 5, Elhadary 4, Mohamed B 3, Abdullah 2, Musa 0.
GILAS PILIPINAS 68—Alapag 15, Douthit 10, Lee 9, Pingris 9, Chan 7, Tenorio 5, David 4, Dillinger 3, Norwood 2, Fajardo 2, Aguilar 0.
Quarters: 19-19, 36-39, 56-51, 77-68