MANILA—The hard grind begins tonight for Smart Gilas Pilipinas in the Fiba-Asia Champions Cup.
After two convincing wins where they flaunted a solid defense and a mean run-and-gun game, the Nationals face a far tougher test against Duhuk of Iraq at 8 p.m. at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.
The Filipinos share the Group B lead with powerhouse ASU of Jordan, which dumped Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad, 79-69, yesterday for its second victory in as many games.
“The tough teams are coming up,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman, whose squad secured a berth in the quarterfinals with a 95-64 blowout against Westsports KL Dragons of Malaysia Sunday night.
“Iraq will be difficult. The team has quality. They have the size and two good imports.”
Smart Gilas will be looking to take top spot in their group as finishing second would mean a quarterfinal duel with powerhouse teams like Al-Riyadi of Lebanon, Al-Rayyan of Qatar and defending champion Mahram of Iran.
Al-Riyadi, powered by Fadi El-Khatib’s 25 points, zoomed to the top of Group B with its second straight win last night when it held off Mahram, 76-73.
In a rematch of the 2009 finals won by Mahram, El-Khatib buried two cushion foul shots with 15 seconds remaining.
Al-Riyadi’s 7-foot-2 center Loren Woods blocked fellow 7-footer Samb Chiekh’s potential game-tying triple at the buzzer, as Al-Riyadi dealt Mahram its first loss in three games.
Photo by August Dela Cruz
The Iraqis finally broke into the win column yesterday by repulsing the Malaysians, 88-76.
One of Duhuk’s two imports, CJ Giles, is actually no stranger to Smart Gilas, having been a candidate to reinforce the national squad as a naturalized player before falling out of favor with the team two years ago.
While naturalized player Marcus Douthit has played a key role for Smart Gilas, the Nationals have been getting stellar contributions from everyone else in their first two games.
And the fact isn’t lost on Duhuk guard Chudney Earl Gray.
“They epitomize team basketball,” the 6-foot-4 Gray said of Smart Gilas, which had six players scoring in double figures Sunday night.
“They are very family-oriented, that’s why they play well together,” Gray added.
“The beauty of this team is that anyone can deliver,” said Dondon Hontiveros, a veteran of the 2007 and 2009 Fiba-Asia Championships.
Reasonably priced tickets are available at SM Ticketnet outlets, with gallery seats costing P10.
The scores:
First Game
JORDAN 79—Alawadi 26, Daghles 14, Al Sous 11, Forehan Kelly 11, Abbas 7, Watkins 7, Islam 2, Mohammad 1.
SAUDI ARABIA 69—Keely 26, Aljuhani 19, Dragajlovic 11, Kabe 5, Alqomsi 3, Almaghrabi 3, Ibrahim 2.
Quarters: 19-18, 36-34, 61-55, 79-69
Second Game
IRAQ 88—Giles 28, Gray 19, Al-Doori 19, Hamad 12, Mahdi 8, Agha 2, Gorgiss 0.
MALAYSIA 76—Ayer 22, Loh 14, Morrison 11, Ooi 10, Batumali 6, Ng 6, Kwaan 4, Ho 3, Kuppusamy 0.
Quarters: 28-13, 40-38, 62-52, 88-76
Third Game
LEBANON 76—El-Khatib 25, Abd El Nour 15, Ismail 14, Woods 10, Akl 9, El Turlk 3.
IRAN 73—Williams 32, Bahrami 18, Cheikh 9, Kamrani 7, Afagh 5, Kardoost 2, Davoudechigani 0, Nezafat 0.
Quarters: 24-14, 37-39, 59-56 76-73