Philippines’ Jayson Castro (7) swoops in for the layup against Japan’s Yuta Tabuse Sunday during their game in the second round of the 2015 Fiba Asia Championship in Changsha, China. Photo from Fiba.com
CHANGSHA CITY, China – Gilas Pilipinas and Iran took different routes in preparing for a titanic clash on Monday in the Fiba Asia Olympic Qualifier here, with the Iranians again bamboozling another foe and the Filipinos struggling big time against a familiar conquered enemy.
Andray Blatche played through pain from a twisted right ankle and helped anchor a solid finish by the Filipinos, who scrapped past Japan, 73-66, just hours after the defending champion Iranians trampled over Hong Kong, 111-56, at Changsha Social Work College Gym.
“It was everything we expected to be – a tough game,” Gilas coach Tab Baldwin said after the Filipinos stared at their biggest deficit in the tournament – 10 points in the second quarter – before pulling out a third straight win and stay on the upper half of Group D.
“We had a tense moment, same old concern in our camp,” Baldwin said. “Attacking the zone is a concern, getting rebounds is a concern. We have to concentrate on those points.”
Blatche still went on to finish with 18 points and 10 rebounds despite limping off the court early in the second quarter with a twisted right ankle.
The big difference why the team survived this one was playing steadily in the endgame as the Filipinos closed out with a 9-2 run in the final 2:16 to snap the game’s last tie at 64.
Ranidel de Ocampo touched off that spurt with a triple and Calvin Abueva and Jason Castro knocked down two free throws each with Blatche responsible for the other field goal that finally took the fight out of the Japanese.
Next up for the Philippines are the Iranians, the lords of Asian basketball since late in the last decade whom the Filipinos have not beaten since the 2012 Jones Cup when Iran played with Hamed Haddadi.
“Definitely, they are one of the top teams out here,” Blatche later told the Inquirer before making it to the team bus. “It will be a tough game, definitely. We will watch films (of their game) and get ready for them,”
The Iran game is important for the Filipinos, who are eyeing to finish at least second after this round to be able to gain a relatively light assignment in the first round of the knockout stages.
Had the Philippines lost to Japan, the road would be difficult.
With Palestine, the Filipinos’ first round conquerors, also losing on Sunday, Team Philippines could have some sort of luxury against the Iranians and still wind up finishing second for the quarterfinals.
De Ocampo finished with 13 points, Jason Castro and Terrence Romeo added 12 apiece with Abueva winding up with 10 that went with six rebounds.
It was not a great game as far as the Filipinos were concerned as they got outrebounded and outassisted.
The Scores:
GILAS PILIPINAS 73 – Blatche 18, de Ocampo 13, William 12, Romeo 12, Abueva 10, Norwood 3, Thoss 3, Hontiveros 2, Pingris 0, Ganuelas 0, Taulava 0.
JAPAN 66 – Hiejima 17, Takeuchi 13, Ono 9, Furukawa 7, Hashimoto 6, Tanaka 6, Tabuse 4, Ota 2, Arao 2, Matsui 0, Hirose 0.
Quarters: 14-18; 35-33; 54-46; 73-66.