Gilas Pilipinas. AP FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — It was a win that felt more like a loss.
Gilas Pilipinas beat Kazakhstan, 67-65, but came up way short below the quotient line to bow out of medal contention in the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
The Philippines, needing to win at least 11 points to give itself a chance to advance to the semifinals, led by as much as 18 late in the third quarter before Kazakhstan trimmed it to seven, 67-60, with 1:23 left.
In a bizarre and desperate move, Gilas had Marcus Douthit deliberately making a basket at Kazakhstan’s own hoop with 11 seconds left in an attempt to extend the game into overtime, where the Philippines would’ve had ample time to try and rebuild at least an 11-point buffer. But the referees waived off Douthit’s basket as it violates Fiba’s so-called “spirit of fair play” rule.
The naturalized center Douthit saw action a day after being benched by head coach Chot Reyes as a disciplinary action in a 95-97 loss to Korea.
Douthit immediately made his presence felt — scoring eight of the Philippines’ first 10 points — to set the tone. He finished with 18 points.
Gilas had aspirations of ending the country’s gold medal drought but the team came up empty after posting a dismal 2-3 record in this Asiad.
The Philippines missed the services of dynamic forward Marc Pingris due to a calf injury.
A win by Korea over Qatar later propels the Kazakhs into the semifinals.
Originally posted at 04:19 pm | Sunday, September 28, 2014
RELATED STORIES
Koreans nip Douthit-less Gilas cagers
Iran edges out Gilas in Asiad basketball