Gilas II sweeps past Japan, stays unbeaten

TAIPEI – Smart Gilas II nearly paid dearly in relaxing a bit in the second quarter but came back in time to force the issue and score an 88-84 win over Japan in the 34th William Jones Cup International Basketball Tournament at the TPEC Gymnasium here last night.

The Nationals needed to grind it out in the end, fighting back from a 13-point deficit to preserve their clean slate and keep in step with defending champion Iran at 4-0.

Japan slid to 2-2.

Earlier in the day, Iran hurdled a big obstacle standing on its way to a fourth straight Jones Cup crown, playing with a gritty resolve to beat out the US team, 97-89, in a controversial double-overtime battle.

The Nationals and the Iranians are fancied to both make it 5-0 today, and they face each other in a virtual championship match tomorrow.

Smart Gilas tangles with Lebanon at 3 p.m. while Iran takes on Chinese Taipei B at 7 p.m. today.

“We’re hoping to put together a solid 40-minute game but it didn’t happen as we had a bad second quarter,” said national coach Chot Reyes. “We just kept reaching to the players for them to stick to each other and stick to what we wanted to do. In the end, we caught a big break to win.”

Marcus Douthit, Jeff Chan, Gabe Norwood, LA Tenorio and Gary David made it happen, teaming up to erase their 60-73 deficit early in the fourth quarter.

As in their game against the Koreans the previous night, the Nationals surged ahead just in time to steal the game.

They made big stops to key a searing 16-2 run, pushing them ahead to stay at 86-81 with 33.3 ticks left.

The Japanese threatened for one last time at 84-86 on a three-pointer by guard Takatoshi Furukawa before Chan coolly sank two free throws to seal the victory.

Douthit, resting on the bench as Japan made a run in the second period, asserted himself in the fourth quarter and finished with game-highs of 26 points and 15 rebounds.

Chan was again in his steady self, nailing two treys and totaling 14 points, Norwood churned out another solid all-around numbers with 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists and Tenorio also hurt the Japanese with 13 points, five assists and three rebounds.

The Filipinos continued to do well on their drive-and-kick plays, converting nine of 24 three-point attempts.

Norwood drained one with 2:08 left as the Nationals went ahead at 82-81.

Makoto Hiejima committed a traveling violation in the ensuing play, and Smart Gilas pounced on it with Chan setting up Douthit for a slam to make it 84-81.

Douthit himself made it 86-81 on two free throws after a defensive stoppage on seven-foot Japanese center Kosuke Takeuchi.

Japan held Gilas to 10 points as the former made a decisive move in the second quarter, leading by 13 before taking the half at 47-36.

Takeuchi piled up 11 points in the opening half, including a three-point play off Norwood giving the Japanese a 13-point spread at 47-34.

The scores:

Smart Gilas 88 – Douthit 26, Chan 14, Tenorio 13, Norwood 11, de Ocampo 8, David 7, Mercado 6, Baracael 3, Reyes 0, Fonacier 0, Villanueva 0.

Japan 84 – Takeuchi 17, Watanabe 16, Sakurain 14, Tanaka 10, Hinkley 6, Hiejima 5, Hashimoto 5, Harimoto 3, Furukawa 3, Kanamaru 3, Ota 2, Kurihara 0.

Quarterscores: 26-23; 36-47; 58-71, 88-84