PBL cagers bow to taller, heftier Jordanians

DOHA, QATAR — Team PBL fell short once again, losing steam before losing its match to Jordan altogether, 73-77, Monday in the second International Cup Challenge at the Khalifa Stadium here.

Bucking the ejection of coach Junel Baculi, the PBL cagers fought back from double-digit deficits in the early going to close in down the stretch but fouled up on the foul line and bowed to their taller and heftier foes from West Asia.

But the squad’s transformation in the last few days had been quite remarkable and Team PBL caught another break later in the night when the fancied hosts lost to Egypt, 61-64.

This makes Baculi optimistic that come Wednesday evening’s pivotal knockout semifinal match with Egypt, long-time powerhouses in the African continent, his players would already know what they need to do to score a win and gain the finals.

Team PBL’s finest moment came during the second period, when it razed Jordan’s first sizable lead, 30-19, and grabbed the upperhand at 36-33 behind the outside sniping of Jason Misolas and Mark Macapagal with three minutes left before the half.

Jordan’s lead started to swell again in the third period when the Egyptian referee started calling dubious fouls on the Filipinos which somehow stalled the team’s momentum. When Baculi asked the referees to call it more fairly, albeit in a loud voice that could be heard clearly by the mostly Filipino crowd, he was assessed two technicals and was promptly tossed out.

Assistant coach Robert Sison took over, assisted on the bench by team manager Bernard Yang and with Chester Tolomia hitting his stride in the fourth quarter, cut the lead to four 73-69, with just under two minutes to play.

However, the Filipinos had chances to cut the lead even closer by forcing some turnovers but failed to convert on key possessions down the stretch while Jordan’s two best players conspired to hold off Team PBL.

Misolas hit three triples and finished with a team-high 15 points, while Cesar Catli also had three three-pointers and had 14 points.

Marvin Ortiguerra added 12 points, all of them in the first half while Macapagal and Tolomia each had 10 points, the latter scoring all of his points in the fourth period and finally breaking out of his slump on this trip.