DOHA, Qatar – Serbian import Milan Vucicevic hit a hook shot at the buzzzer, lifting Smart Gilas Pilipinas to a 76-74 victory over Duhok of Iraq for the last quarterfinal berth in the 21st FIBA-Asia Champions Cup at the Al Gharafa Sports Club Hall here Wednesday night.
Needing a win to advance to the next round, the Nationals used their speed and crisp outside shooting to neutralize 7-4 Priest Lauderdale and then went to Vucicevic at endgame to claim the victory.
It was Smart Gilas’ first victory after three straight losses but it was enough to put the Filipinos into the quarters against powerhouse Al Riyadi of Lebanon Friday.
“It was a very difficult game, we can’t make a break, we’re a little bit scared so I said to the players that’s not our real face,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.
“We also put a lot of pressure on the players by saying we needed to win this game but luck was on our side today (Wednesday) and we won,” he added.
Mac Baracael and Dylan Ababou broke out of a shooting slump by firing 19 and 15 points, respectively, while Mark Barroca tossed in 15 points for Smart Gilas.
RP team captain Chris Tiu bucked a busted lip, a hurting hip and a sore hamstring as he scored 12 points while capping his game-long brilliance with tournament-best 10 assists. He also had seven rebounds and made three steals before fouling out late in the game.
But it was Vucicevic who delivered the goods at crunchtime.
With 6.36 seconds to go, the spitfirish Barroca rushed from the backcourt and drew a slew of tall defenders as he drove to the basket, dropping a pass to the wide-open Vucicevic on the left baseline for the game-winning hook, triggering a frantic celebration from Filipino fans.
“I had one game-winning shot when I played in Greece, but it’s nothing compared to this. This is the closest to my heart, I’m really happy about the shot,” said Vucicevic.
There was, however, some delay in the Filipinos’ celebration from the stands and on the court as the refs conferred with the table officials, who said the basket came before the buzzer sounded.
“It’s the worst part of this competition,” said Toroman. “If you watched the game on TV, they made 100 mistakes and officiating is very, very bad.
“The level of the games and the level of the players who are here are tired of the level of officiating, I hope in the quarterfinals the officiating would be much, much better,” he said.
Vucicevic and Fil-Am seven-footer Greg Slaughter alternated in containing Lauderdale, who finished with 17 points on 7-of-10 clip and eight rebounds.
The other quarterfinal pairings pit ASU of Jordan against Kazakhstan, Iran versus Al Jalaa of Syria and Group A topnotcher Al Rayyan against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia.
The Smart Gilas-Lebanon showdown will be a repeat of their semifinal clash in last January’s Dubai Invitational where the Lebanese, backed by three Americans and several naturalized players, beat the Filipinos to level their head-to-head duel at one game apiece.
Smart Gilas won their first faceoff in last year’s edition in Jakarta, Indonesia where it finished fifth.
Al Riyadi clinched the top seeding after sweeping Group B with a fourth win in row against Al Nasr of United Arab Emirates, 92-83, in a game where they sparingly used imports CJ Giles and Nate Johnson and rested Lebanon team standouts Fadi El Khatib and Ali Mahmoud.
Doha notes: The RP women’s team is set to arrive in this oil-rich nation Friday to play its Qatar counterparts in an exhibition game on Sunday...Team captain Chris Tiu, co-skipper Mark Barroca and Mac Baracel were allowed to rest and skip practice Thursday. Tiu and Barroca had been playing 30-plus minutes in the absence of JV Casio, JR Cawaling and Marcio Lassiter while Baracael has an ailing knee after colliding with Jackson Vroman of Mahram of Iran in an elimination round loss.
The scores:
Smart Gilas 76 – Baracael 19, Barroca 15, Tiu 12, Ababou 15, Vucicevic 10, Lutz 3, Slaughter 2, Ramos 0, Aguilar 0, Jazul 0.
Duhok of Iraq 74 – Cage 34, Lauderdale 17, Mohammed 13, Mahdi 4, Ismaeel 2, Hamad 2, Suliman 2, Hussein 0.
Quarterscores: 18-22, 36-34, 53-52, 76-74.