Duel for last quarterfinal berth: Down to do-or-die for Gilas, C Taipei

GUANGZHOU – The Smart Gilas Team Pilipinas found itself under tremendous pressure in its quarterfinal bid againts Chinese Taipei after Qatar upended Japan, 88-87, Sunday night in the 16th Asian Games basketball competition here.

With a second straight win after blowout loss to Smart Gilas, Qatar gained entry into the Last 8, rendering the Philippines-India match at the Ying Dong Gymnasium Sunday night non-bearing.

The win by the Qataris, silver medalists in the 2006 Asiad in Doha, thus sent the Filipinos to a knockout match with the Taiwanese at the close of the preliminary round last night.

Still, the Nationals buckled down to work and smothered the Indians, 78-57, to improve their win-loss record to 2-2.

Chinese Taipei can catch up at 2-3 if it beats Smart Gilas Phl. In such case, the Taiwanese steal the last berth in the quarters via the winner-over-the-other rule.

“We have no other recourse but to beat Chinese-Taipei. It will be a tough game since Chinese-Taipei is a quality team. They battled and lost close games to Japan, Qatar and Iran,” said Smart Gilas coach Rajko Toroman.

“They’re a bit undersized but they’re a great shooting team. They defend well with the zone. We have to stop their open shots and attack their zone,” Toroman added.

Toroman’s concern is the team’s health problem.

“Japeth Aguilar and Sol Mercado are out and, now, Chris Tiu and Marcio Lassiter are also hurting both with a groin injury,” said Toroman.

“Despite limited options (in my rotation), I hope we can survive. There will be lots of possibilities if we make the quarters,” Toroman added.

The Serbian mentor played Tiu and Lassiter limited minutes against the Indians, preserving them for the Chinese-Taipei match.

Toroman also rested major frontline players Kelly Williams and Asi Taulava after the team had built a big cushion in the third quarter.

The Nationals pummeled the Indians after the break, pulling away from a 31-30 halftime edge en route to their second win in the tourney following a 90-68 rout of the Qataris.

“We played not so good specially in the first half as we felt the pressure, knowing Qatar sent us to a knockout game against Chinese Taipei,” said Toroman.

“India is far from us in terms of playing skills. But we’re tight,” Toroman added.

The Qataris, meanwhile, rode the momentum of a 72-70 win over the Taiwanese Friday as they stopped the Japanese on their tracks at the Huangpu Gymnasium.

Qatar can gain top seeding in the group if it can make it three in a row over Iran.

In the other group, host and defending champion China made it 4-0 with a 76-66 win over South Korea.

Jordan drew level with South Korea at 3-1 following a 68-63 drubbing of Uzbekistan.