Smart Gilas shuns bronze; Lebanon wins gold

MANILA— Frustrated in the semifinals on Saturday night, Smart Gilas Pilipinas simply lost the competitive fire to win a medal on Sunday night.

Al Rayyan of Qatar cashed in on the national five’s uninspired play and seized the bronze medal with a 71-64 victory in the 22nd Fiba Asia Champions Cup on Sunday night at the Philsports Arena.

American import Chauncey Leslie fired 19 points and Targuy Ngombo had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Qataris, who also dominated the boards, 56-38.

Except for Marcus Douthit’s 28 points and JV Casio’s 10, half of them on garbage points, nobody from the Smart Gilas roster reached double figures.

Overall, the mediocre field-goal shooting—23 of 65 from the floor and 3 of 24 from three-point land—cost the Nationals the bronze medal in what could have been a redeeming finish for the Philippines in the continental club championships since winning the crown in 1996.

The collapse recalled a similar loss of heart by the RP five in the 2002 Busan Asian Games when it all but yielded the bronze medal to Kazakhstan after losing to South Korea by a point in the semifinals.

“We were not mentally ready for this game. We had lots of chances but if you shoot like that…,” said Smart Gilas Rajko Toroman, his voice trailing off in dismay.

“I’m disappointed. It was our worst game (in the tournament). We’re afraid to win a medal. We hesitated most of the time and it’s a pity,” added Toroman.

Smart Gilas, fifth and seventh here the last two years, lost to defending champion Mahram of Iran, 80-77, in the semifinals on Saturday.

But Toroman said he was expecting the Nationals to play better in the Fiba Asia Championship in Wuhan, China, on Sept. 15-25, with the addition of point guard Jimmy Alapag and Kelly Williams.
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“Our weakness is in the power forward position. Kelly can manage other big players from other teams and make us strong defensively,” said Toroman.

“All the games were close and we had the chance to win against bigger teams,” he added.

The Nationals were still in the thick of the fight early in the fourth quarter before the Qataris patiently worked their way inside and built a 66-57 lead with a minute and 27 seconds left.

Smart Gilas went scoreless for four minutes and 20 seconds in the third before Douthit broke the ice with a fallaway that trimmed a nine-point deficit.

Casio, who missed his first three shots, finally drained a three-pointer followed by a pull-up inside the lane as Smart Gilas moved closer, 46-50, entering the fourth.

Meanwhile, Enver Soobzokov had five three-pointers and finished with a game-high 19 points as ASU of Jordan repulsed Syria’s Al Jalaa, 72-65, to wind up fifth.

In the other classification match, Serbian import Vladislav Dragajlovic powered his way to 28 points and 21 rebounds, leading Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia to a seventh-place finish with a 104-95 win over Iraq’s Duhok.

The scores:
AL RAYYAN 71 — Leslie 19, Ngombo 18, Musa 11, Cuffee 9, Saeed 5, Salem 4, Ali 4, Ndour 1, Abdulla 0.

SMART GILAS 64 — Douthit 28, Casio 10, Aguilar 8, Lassiter 7, Baracael 5, Barroca 2, Tiu 2, Lutz 2, Taulava 0, Hontiveros 0.

Quarters: 17-15, 36-33, 50-46, 71-64