Gilas rebounds, blasts Japan

Games today (Mall of Asia Arena)

10:30 a.m. – Jordan vs Hong Kong

12:45 p.m. – Bahrain vs Iran

3 p.m. – Japan vs Chinese Taipei

5:45 p.m. – China vs India

8:30 p.m. – Philippines vs Qatar

10:30 p.m. – Kazakhstan vs Korea

(Ninoy Aquino Stadium)

6 p.m. – Saudi Arabia vs Thailand or Malaysia

MANILA, Philippines -  Gilas Pilipinas came back from its loss to Chinese Taipei with fire in the belly and came through with a game to remember, dumping East Asian power Japan, 90-71, to get back in the thick of things in the 27th FIBA Asia Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City last night.

Cheered on by the home crowd, the Nationals made a huge turnaround from their 79-84 defeat at the hands of the Taiwanese, ripping the Japanese apart to gain solo third place in Group E play.

Chinese Taipei and Qatar stayed in the lead as they kept their unbeaten run with convincing victories over Hong Kong and Jordan, respectively.

With some pressure following their Saturday loss, the Nationals delivered their worthiest game in the regional World Cup qualifier, punishing the Japanese with a fiery offense coupled by a tough defense.

Marcus Douthit finally put in an imposing performance with 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the Filipino shooters exploded with a 12-of-20 three-point shooting to overcome the tall Japanese side.

“I’m a firm believer that in life, once you stumble, you should get up. We stumbled the last time and we got up,” said Gilas coach Chot Reyes.

“We talked about two things in practice (Monday) – forget the last game and play a complete game,” Reyes also said. “We showed improvement in our game and that’s a good sign.”

The Nationals made a big push together, dominating the Japanese though beaten in rebounding, 29-42.

Japan overwhelmed Gilas off the offensive board, 17-4, because the Filipinos didn’t need to get offensive rebounds.

Ranidel de Ocampo, Jeff Chan, Jimmy Alapag, LA Tenorio, Larry Fonacier and Gary David combined for a superb 12-of-20 three-pointers and Gilas hit at a 49-percent shooting overall as against Japan’s 37-percent clip.

Sitting on a 46-36 cushion at the half, the Filipinos showed killer’s instinct, pressing their bid further to put the game away in the third period.

“Hindi pwedeng mapagod at hindi pa pwedeng matuwa (We can’t get tired, can’t relax),” said De Ocampo, a big key in igniting Gilas’ early breakaway with 3-of-3 three-pointers.

Earlier, already missing the services of star center Yi Jianlian, China lost starting point-guard Liu Xiaoyu in the opening minutes of the game against Kazakhstan.

The Chinese almost paid the price.

After trailing by 16 points early in the second quarter, Kazakhstan fought back and kept the game close in the end, coming very close to scoring a huge upset.

The Chinese trailed, 63-62, heading into the last three minutes before drawing the big baskets from Zhou Peng to escape with a narrow 73-67 win.

The victory gave China its first win in the second round of the preliminaries with two more matches left against India and Bahrain. The Chinese loom as a possible opponent for Gilas Pilipinas in the quarterfinals.