RP wavers at endgame, yields to Qatar

JAKARTA – Smart Gilas Pilipinas stumbled into a maze of errors in the face of Al Arabi of Qatar’s defensive pressure at crunchtime, absorbing a 71-76 loss in the quarterfinal round of the 20th FIBA-Asia Champions Cup at the Britama Arena here late Sunday.

The Nationals, formed less than six months ago, recovered from a slow start to seize control but failed to sustain their momentum as the Qataris toughened up on defense and pounced on the RP cagers’ erratic windup to fashion out the victory.

“Lack of experience,” said RP Serbian coach Rajko Toroman after the team’s bitter defeat.

The loss dropped the Filipinos to the relegation tie where they will meet Sangmoo of Korea today. A victory will line them up against the winner between Satra Muda of host Indonesia and Young Cagers of India tomorrow for fifth place.

“Qatar team played well, maybe one of their best games here, they played smart. I told the guys in one of our meetings that if we keep them below 80 points, we would have a chance.

“We had some easy, easy shots, but we couldn’t execute. We couldn’t make our three-point shots,” he said.

CJ Giles, who sustained a strained left quadriceps injury in a 91-86 upset of 2007 FIBA-Asia Championship runner-up Al Riyadi of Lebanon, last Friday finished with a double-double job of 20 points and 18 rebounds with three steals and two shot blocks.

But the American import took his fourth foul early in the fourth, forcing Toroman to pull him out and leaving a big void in the team’s center spot.

But the Filipinos, led by co-skipper Mark Barroca’s 16 points and Dylan Ababou’s 12, refused to give up only to reel back anew with a series of turnovers late in the contest.

Qatar operated brilliantly behind a six-man rotation composed of Americans Joshua Jones and Maurice Hargrow and Africans Erfan Saeed, Ali Ali, Khalid Abdi and Omar Salem.

Jones and Hargrow combined for 34 points while Saeed, Ali, Abdi and Salem accounted for the rest of the output to seal the win that set up Qatar in a re-match with elimination round conqueror Zain of Jordan in today’s semifinals.

Defending champion Mahram of Iran squares off with Al Riyadi of Lebanon in the other semis match.

Champions Cup notes: Aside from Bong Ramos, Boyzie Zamar and Nat Canson are also working here as coaches in the fledgling Indonesian Basketball League. Ramos, who coached the Indonesian national team in the 2003 Hanoi Southeast Asian Games, is with Surabaya; Zamar, a former RP team coach, and Canson are with two new ballclubs in the 10-team league...A big crowd came in full force to cheer for the Nationals but went home disappointed after the heartbreaking loss to the Qataris...Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas officials said the Smart Gilas team needs to get more experience abroad and tap bigger recruits.