Gilas sprints over Jordan for second win in a row

MANILA, Philippines – “This is not a sprint. It’s a race.”

Gilas Pilipinas took Chot Reyes’ pre-game reminder to heart as the Nationals finally made a giant stride sprinting closer towards the ultimate goal after winning over Wuhan Final Four tormentor Jordan, 77-71, Friday night in the 2013 Manila FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship before an animated jampacked crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Gilas again played tentative for two quarters as the Filipinos trailed by five at the half before unleashing the full brunt of an anxious nation waiting for a moment to be proud of.

And in one good sprint in the third quarter came that moment.

Gilas dropped a 17-0 bomb on Jordan, which transformed a 36-42 deficit into a 53-42 lead.

The pressure was finally lifted off and the Nationals fed off the energy of a loud home crowd in winning its second in a row.

“I thought the crowd really gave us a big lift,” Reyes told reporters after the game.

Gabe Norwood took Jimmy Baxter out of the game limiting him to six points in the first three quarters. Then there was Jeff Chan, who kept Gilas afloat with his timely outside hits. But it was Jayson Castro, who broke the hearts and ankles of the Jordanians by leading the sprint in the third canto.

Castro finished with 16 points, seven in that dizzying run, which he laced it up with three boards and four assists. Jordan had no answer to his speed as he raced his way to the basket, most of the time, unmolested.

The Jordanians did not see what hit them as they wasted their strong effort in the first half which silenced the crowd.

“We played better concentration in the first half. We took Marcus Douthit out.  But in the second half, we played to their (Gilas) rhythm,” said Jordan’s Greek coach Vangelis Alexandris, who praised the Filipinos’ passion for the game before the post-game interview.

In the opening half, Jordan controlled the pace of the match leading in twin digits.  Gilas had to rely on Chan’s hot hands to keep the Jordanians from pulling away.

The lefty from Bacolod hit five, three in the first two quarters, to finish with a team-high 17 points.

Ranidel de Ocampo and Douthit tallied 11 points apiece while Norwood wound up with eight points and eight boards aside from shadowing Baxter all game long.

Japeth Aguilar also came off the bench and energized the crowd with two straight jumpers during that 17-0 crippling run. 

The big win set up a clash of unbeaten teams with Chinese Taipei Saturday night for the Group A lead. 

Reyes downplayed the big win as nothing but just a sprint in the big race. 

"We're fooling ourselves if we get happy with this win. But we played a lot better than yesterday (against Saudi)," Reyes said. "Hopefully, we continue to play better."