Yields to China: Gilas Phl free-falls to duel for 7th spot

INCHEON, Korea – China upended a lackluster Philippine team playing with little or no help from its big men and key player Jimmy Alapag in a 78-71 win that sent the Chinese to the playoff against Qatar for fifth place last night in the Asian Games basketball competitions.

Alapag and Marc Pingris were rested for the game, while injured JunMar Fajardo and Paul Lee played for less than three minutes in the game where China led all throughout.

In the other consolation game, Qatar defeated Mongolia, 87-78.

Marcus Douthit topscored for the Philippines with 24 points in 37 minutes of action, while Ranidel de Ocampo, still in shape, shot 16 markers.

With the loss, the Philippines meets Qatar in its farewell Asiad game in the consolation round for seventh place, which could be one of its worst finishes in the quadrennial meet.

At the end of the quarterfinal round Sunday, Iran topped Group 1 with a 3-0 record followed by Japan, China and Mongolia with 1-2 marks each.

Korea, also with 0-3, topped Group 2, with Kazakhstan, Qatar and the Philippines tied for second to fourth places with the same 1-2 record.

Advancing with the highest tiebreak points were Japan in Group 1 and Kazakhstan in Group 2.

Japan emerged with the highest tiebreak point, followed by China and Mongolia.

In Group 2, Kazakhstan was second with the highest tiebreak point, followed by Qatar and the Philippines.

Japan and Korea meet in the first semifinal set Oct. 1 while Iran battles Kazakhstan in the other semifinal.

The two-game playoff for fifth-eighth places started yesterday, pitting Group 1third placer China against Group 2 fourth placer Philippines.

The other classification game pitted Group 1 fourth placer Mongolia against Group 2 third placer Qatar.

The winners advance to the playoff for fifth place while the losers battle for seventh place, both on Oct. 1 before the semifinal round matches.

The semifinal winners advance to the gold medal round while the losers battle for third on Oct. 3 before the final round matches.