Gilas rolls past Lebanon; Japan next

CHANGSHA – Gilas Pilipinas grinded out an 82- 70 decision over Lebanon, working on a vast reservoir of desire and drive from start to finish to book a Fi- nal Four berth in the FIBA Asia championship last night at Changsha Social Work College here.

World Cup veteran Jay- son Castro provided the offensive spark for the Na- tionals with 12 of Gilas’ first 17 points and Mark Pingris finished off the Lebanese with three crucial baskets in the endgame to take the fight out of a Lebanese team whose three-point shooters threatened the Filipinos until the dying minutes.

The victory sent the Nationals to the Final Four against Japan which clobbered Qatar, 81-67. China and defending champion Iran sealed their side of the semifinals knockout duels with big wins over India and Korea, respectively.

The victory moved the Philippines two steps closer to the gold and, as semifinalists, the Filipinos are now also  assured of at least a spot in Olympic wild card play next year.

Gilas will earn a second straight FIBA Asia final appearance if the Nationals beat the Japanese in their 9:30 p.m. game tonight.

Host China faces Iran in the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m.

At the end of their 12-point conquest of the Lebanese, Blatche and Calvin Abueva were among Gilas players hollering “easy! easy! easy!”

It was obviously directed at Lebanon coach Veselin Matic who on the eve of the match told The STAR: “We can play the Philippines easy, easy.”

In the team meeting Wednesday, coach Tab Baldwin wrote on the board what Matic had said.

The Nationals took it to heart and made the Serbian coach eat his words.

Terrence Romeo, Pingris, Abueva and Gabe Norwood also had solid games as the Philippines got past the Final Eight of the biennial Asian meet for the third straight time.

Team Philippines finished fourth in Wuhan in 2011 and landed second in Manila in 2011.

Castro and Blatche came out firing as the Nationals seized the early initiative and held sway through the end of the duel between the Southeast Asian kingpin and the West Asian power.

Lebanon naturalized player Jay Youngblood broke the ice with a quick basket.

As Castro answered with a three-pointer and a drive-in basket, the Filipinos led all the way to the finish.

Castro led all scorers with 25 points, including five treys while Blatche came up with a double-double game with 24 markers and 17 rebounds.  

The Chinese overpowered the Indians, 104-58, while the Iranians clobbered the Koreans, 75-62, to arrange their own semis duel. (Related story on Page 19)

They were projected to clash for the championship, but will instead square off in the semis because of Iran’s defeat at the hands of Gilas last Monday.

FIBA Asia newcomer Palestine outfought Kazakhstan, 83-81, in overtime while the Rajko Toroman-mentored Jordan squad routed Hong Kong, 82-62, to set up a fight for ninth place.

The losers, meanwhile, were relegated to a battle for 11th place.

On Monday, Chinese Taipei topped Kuwait, 99-69, for 13th place while Singapore beat Malaysia, 92-59, for 15th.

Today, the FIBA Asia board meets to discuss the merger of the Asia-Oceania zones and the new World Cup qualifying format that will take effect starting 2017.

Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny V. Pangilinan, who flew in here yesterday, is attending the conference.

China stamped its class on India, thus avenging a shocker of a loss the Chinese suffered at the hands of the Indians in their FIBA Asia Cup duel in Wuhan last year.

And in hurdling the Indians, the Chinese are back in the FIBA Asia Championship semis after being stunned by Chinese Taipei in the quarters in Manila in 2013.